Elimination
by Terilinan
Summary: Art is an agent who has been asked to kill a hacker. A talented hacker working for an ally agency, in fact. This mission was already fairly difficult, but with her emotions interfering and time slowly running out, the lives of everyone involved were being put in danger. She couldn't do anything about it but watch - right?
1. Prologue

**Cover Credit - STTMARTS on DeviantArt; cover will probably change soon once I find some motivation to look for art**

* * *

 **Hello there!**

 **First off, all characters that belong to Cheritz belong to them. I do not own them or anything similar to that. I only own all OCs used in this story: Art, Eric, and maybe a few more (I'll see). All agency names are made up/fictional (haha I hope they don't actually exist), and all place names are parodies of real place names, but the descriptions are not based off of the actual places.**

 **I will occasionally stray off from the actual chats, and hopefully not make the texts OOC, but I'll try ^^**

 **The idea of putting the place/date/time come from LordAstrea (Thank you!).**

 **Thank you!**

 **(And enjoy!)**

 **-Teri**

* * *

Prologue

 ** _Agency of New York Headquarters  
_** ** _Room 662 - Office of Eric Young  
_** ** _January 19th, 2017  
_** ** _2:07 PM EST_**

Eric Young was sitting on his comfortable rolling chair, frantically typing on his keyboard. His fingers moved quickly and the room was filled with nothing but the sound of the keyboard and an occasional sigh. The screen was reflecting off of his bright green eyes, bloodshot and wide open, almost as if he couldn't stop doing his work or else something would happen. He was sitting straight up in his seat, feet planted on the ground, and was biting on his lip so hard that it began to bleed slightly.

There was a knock at the door. "Mr. Young? You wanted to see me?"

The room went silent. Eric took a deep sigh and sat back in his chair. "Of course, 144. Come in. You're late."

The door opened, and standing right there was a girl, fairly short compared to Eric himself, with dark brown hair in a messy ponytail and black eyes that were cold and piercing. Her blue jacket was zippered, which was fairly interesting, considering she didn't get cold easily, and the heat was blasting in the office. She was short and a little too thin for her age, but Eric never cared about that. She was a great agent. One of the best, in fact.

She walked in, closing the door behind her. It closed with a quiet _click_. She stood there, standing perfectly still and straight, her head slightly tilted, her eyebrows raised. He knew what she was doing. She was taking note of everything. How coffee cups were scattered all over his desk, how his eyes were red, how he was wearing the same clothes he wore for the past week. How his hands were clutching the table, how his knuckles were white. Her eyes continued to search for any information available.

"Sit, 144. Don't just stand there." He gestured to the bright red chair that stood out amongst his dull, white room.

She took a seat and leaned back in the chair, her legs crossed, before saying, "You don't need to call me 144 all the time."

"It's my job. I'm the boss, you're the agent. I'm required to call you by number, just like you're required to call me 'Mr. Young.'"

"Alright. Fine, fine. What am I here for?" He was trying to avoid her stare, but she was trying to get his attention, to try to read what was going on in his mind.

Eric opened a drawer and began searching through a pile of very well organized folders. Eventually, he pulled one out and handed it to her, saying, "There's been a request for us to eliminate a certain individual. It's very urgent. You must finish this before February 3rd."

"That's not much information you're giving me." She reached for the file. "That's also not a lot of time."

"I know. I'm going to give you more information. Don't take the file yet. It's better if I explain this situation to you first." He finally met her eyes, his own eyes colder than ice.

She sat back in her chair, silent.

"Your job is to kill an agent for the Seoul Protection Agency," he began. She opened her mouth, about to object, but he continued, pretending to ignore her. "While we have been on good terms with them, I cannot turn this offer down. Therefore, your job, or jobs, should I say, are very crucial."

He slid the file to her, but she didn't bother to touch the file or take it. Her eyebrows were even more raised, if that was possible.

"You must eliminate the agent. However, you must also stay hidden so that nobody from the SPA will know that it was us who killed him. Try to limit it to two people from Seoul who know that you will be there."

"You're insane, sir."

"Your flight will be tonight at 11:48 PM exactly. In this file will be a debit card with 6 million won in it. The pin is your agent number with a 0 at the end. I assume you have a fake passport and all that to prepare?"

"Of course."

"Perfect," he said, leaning back in his chair, his eyes closed. "You are responsible for your own hotel, food, transportation, how you eliminate him, and how you cover his death. Understand?"

"Of course. Does this mean that I get to leave early to pack?"

He opened his eyes and glared. "You are an agent, 144. If you do not have bags already packed in case of a sudden emergency, I do not know what you are doing here."

She hesitated a bit before saying, "Right. I'll leave now." She picked up the file and began walking out the door, putting the debit card in her jacket pocket.

"144, I will give you a warning. If you fail this mission, please know that you will lose your life and you will put everyone working here in danger. Understand?"

She turned around. "I understand." There was something in her tone that made Eric close his eyes and smile. She sounded confident that she would succeed. And he became confident as well.

"Good luck, 144. I'll be waiting."

 _Click_.

* * *

 ** _Sumerset Castle Seoul Hotel  
_** ** _Room 342, Bedroom  
_** _ **January 31st, 2017  
**_ _ **9:13 AM KST**_

144, more commonly known as Art, was typing nonstop on her keyboard, filling the quiet room with sounds of typing. Next to her was a cup of coffee, still steaming, and her hair was up in a random, messy bun. Her eyes were still cold and determined, staring at the screen filled with lines of code and a map.

Eric had called her last night, asking her if she managed to somehow find his location.

"No," she replied curtly, "Maybe it would help if you had some of the agents back there to help, too, hm? I'm not great with finding and searching for people."

He sighed. "We're trying, 144. We've been trying to track him down, but he's careful. There's nothing we can find on him."

"We have less than a week left, Young."

"144, don't lose hope. We're all trying our best, and I hope- I know you are too."

 _Click_.

This hacker was insanely good. She tried everything. She tried breaking into the SPA database to find information, and although she did successfully get in with a little bit of help back in New York, his information wasn't in the database. She tried to use the information she could find from the database to help, but all it did was give her some slightly specific information on his whereabouts.

She didn't know what to do at this point. She continued to search, but ended up with little to no information.

 _Don't stop there, because you won't be the only one in danger if you give up._

She reached for her coffee and took a sip. Hot and sweet. Just how she liked it.

Art sighed. There wasn't a lot of time left. Maybe Eric could ask for more time? That would be nice. An extension would be really nice. It would mean less pressure for all of them, too. She leaned back onto the pillows and put the laptop on the drawer next to her.

She had to start thinking about tonight. Which hotel would she go to? She wanted to be careful. To leave no traces. Worrying about the debit card was already enough, but Eric assured her that the card would be traced to a bank account that was owned by a fake person.

That was slightly reassuring.

She always moved around. One night she would stay in this hotel, the next night she would stay in that hotel. One night she would eat in this restaurant, the next night she would eat in that restaurant. She was used to it. She also liked being able to explore while working, to take a semi-vacation instead of being trapped in an office with thirteen other people who were all breathing the same, hot air.

A bit less than three hours before Art had to leave.

She didn't want to leave, however. It was comfortable here, and moving seemed like a terrible idea. Everything she needed was within reach - her backpack, her coffee cup, her laptop, her phone, a few snacks, and a variety of chargers, all on nearby drawers. The bed and the pillows she was on were all soft. The blanket was warm. The temperature was perfect. It was unfortunate that she would have to move eventually.

She was about to reach out for her drawer, when her phone vibrated just once. She turned around and reached for her phone instead.

 _Hm? The agents should know better than to text me._

Considering how her phone didn't have any other downloadable apps, and the only apps she used were a location app and the phone, the vibration was a little strange for her. She picked up the phone.

 **RFA Messenger has been downloaded.**

 _What the hell?_

Quickly unlocking her phone, she tried deleting the app by dragging it to the little trash can on the top of the screen. But she couldn't delete it, no matter how much she tried. She tried to delete it by connecting it to her laptop and working from there, but it refused to leave its new home, more commonly known as her phone.

She stared at the app. It had a simple logo, with just RFA in fancy, golden text, with laurel and a ribbon surrounding the text, and a black background. She wanted to know what RFA meant, if it meant anything in the first place

She clicked it.

The screen became entirely black, before the logo appeared again. It soon disappeared with another screen, asking for a username and a profile picture.

 _I suppose if I want to find out more about it, I should just go on with it._

She typed in "Art," since typically, people would associate art with, well, paintings and music, right? Not with a name. She got out of bed and took a photo of the scenery outside, which was stupid, in her mind, but she didn't know what else she could use as a profile.

As soon as she clicked enter, the entire screen turned a dark blue, with green lines of code filling the screen. There was a slightly patterned bar at the top and bottom of the screen, the bottom of the screen with a box allowing for her to type, and the top with one word on it: "Unknown."

Some text appeared on the screen.

 **Unknown** : ...Hello...? Is this 144?

She froze, rereading the message over and over again. 144? That was her agent number. Is this a new app for ANY, or did she accidentally leave a trace when hacking into the SPA database? She hoped it was the former.

She glanced at the profile picture. It was the default photo. No help there.

 **Art** : 144?

 **Unknown** : Are you agent 144 of ANY?

 _Oh shit._

He couldn't have known. It was impossible. The ANY database was secure, and besides, if anyone did break into the database, it would be hard to leave without a trace. She would have to ask the other agents some other time.

 **Art** : Who are you?

She didn't know what else to ask. Asking "How do you know?" would mean that she was confirming that she was, indeed, agent 144 of ANY. Saying "no" would mean that she was lying, and while that was tempting, if this "Unknown" person turned out to be one of her agent friends, that would be a little awkward. Saying "yes" would be dangerous, especially if this "Unknown" person was supposed to hunt down ANY agents or something similar to that.

 **Unknown** : I wouldn't worry about that. I'm here to help with your... issue.

She stopped standing near a window and walked to her luggage for a change of clothes. She was going to receive information from this "Unknown" person. While this person could be dangerous, information was still information. And she was tired of sitting in a hotel room for a long period of time, trying to search for information with no success. But one thing put her on edge.

 _He knows about this, but doesn't want to reveal his identity. Why_?

She took out a random change of clothes, before throwing them on the bed and picking up her phone again.

 **Art** : Elaborate.

 **Unknown** : Here's an address for you. I recommend you come here for more information regarding the elimination of your target.

 _He knows. He knows everything, probably._

The next thing she knew, there was an address sent to her. A quick search showed that she was supposed to go to some apartment downtown, where a lot of people lived and worked. She hoped she didn't have to eliminate him there. That would have been a pain, trying to kill him in the middle of a crowded street.

 **Art** : Does the target live there?

 **Unknown** : No, unfortunately. I cannot find his address, but I know that this address is related to him.

 **Art** : I see. Thank you.

 **Unknown** : Don't delete this app - well, it's not as if you can. However, do not call or text any of the agents back in ANY. You can do it now to tell them, but it will be risky once you arrive at the apartment.

 **Art** : Alright. Is there a lock or something on the door, because am I expected to break in?

 _He knows, he knows. How?_

She immediately called Eric, but he didn't pick up. Maybe he was having dinner? She did, however, leave a voicemail, telling him that she found an address that was related to the target, and also telling him that it would be dangerous for everybody if any of the agents called her from this point on.

She looked around. She would have to pack quickly if she wanted to get there as soon as possible.

* * *

 ** _Hyperial Tower  
_** ** _Apartment 1429  
_** ** _January 31st, 2017  
_** ** _10:17 AM KST_**

Art was right in front of the address given. Hyperial Tower, Apartment 1429. The elevators were down for some reason, which meant that she had to carry her backpack and her suitcase all the way up from the first floor to the fourteenth floor.

The hallway was silent, other than the abnormally loud sound of her breathing. She would rather not go through the entire situation again. That wouldn't be fun.

She analyzed the door. It seemed very sturdy, maybe even made of some sort of metal, so breaking open the door would be a bad idea. There was a number lock on it, as well as a little symbol on the top indicating that maybe there was a card scanner. The strange (but very pretty, she had to admit) RFA logo was on the door as well.

 **Art** : I'm here. What's the code, or is there a card hidden somewhere?

 **Unknown** : The code is 4218750. I'm fairly certain there is some sort of card inside, but I do not recommend looking through drawers or touching anything.

 **Unknown** : Also, if any of them ask, please do not say that I led you here to help you eliminate a target. Create an excuse, but make sure that you do not reveal that you are an agent, and I helped you.

She put in the seven numbers and was greeted with a _click_. She opened the door, and saw a fairly large apartment which was brightly lit with sunlight.

 **Art** : Them?

No response.

 **Art** : Alright. I understand. I'll tell them that you led me here... because someone lost a phone.

 **Unknown** : That sounds good. Have fun and good luck, 144.

 **Art** : Thank you.

The green text flickered away, as did Unknown's messages. The dark blue background was replaced with a photo of the night sky, and the top bar was different. There were more names. Way more names. It was also strange, how the chat room changed so quickly.

She shut the door behind her. Who were these people? Jumin Han, 707, Yoosung, Jaehee Kang, and, well, Art. The only person she knew in this chat room was herself.

 **Yoosung** : Failed my midterms fml T_T

Art raised an eyebrow. Failing midterms?

His profile, however, did give her a warm feeling inside. It was a fairly young boy, probably around the same age as her, with messy blonde hair, his bangs held back with two intersecting clips. His mouth was in a wide smile and he was waving... he reminded her of something...

He reminded her of an innocent child. A "cinnamon roll," some would say.

 **707** : Cuz you played LOLOL all night lol.

She took a closer look at his profile. She froze as soon as she took one good look at it.

 _What? No way. He looks exactly like the guy I have to track down..._

She tapped on his profile picture, but nothing happened. She couldn't zoom in or anything similar, but she was almost certain he was the target. He had the same red hair and golden eyes that the photo in the file had. Unless this guy had a twin (which would mean that he couldn't join the agency, so that was ruled out), she had found her target, who was under the name 707. All her worries and fears she tried to hide before disappeared.

She watched the conversation go on, realizing that nobody knew that she was even in the chat room. At least, until...

 **707** : Wait!

 **Yoosung** : Why?

 **Zen** : ?

 **707** : Think someone entered the chat room;;

This apartment... this Unknown person... they were so helpful. She might actually succeed. She wouldn't fail, and nobody would die because of her.

 **Art** : Hello.

 **Art** : And yes, I did enter. I'm a little confused about how I entered, however.

 _That doesn't sound suspicious, right?_

 **Yoosung** : Ahh! It's talking!

 _Guess not._

She leaned against the door, a small smile on her lips. Almost automatically, her smile faded when she saw there was a camera. They couldn't know. No. If anyone, especially her target, saw her smiling like a psychopath, that wouldn't be very good. But even though she wasn't clearly showing it, there was a warm feeling in her, filling her with energy and determination.

 _Luciel Choi._

 _I can't wait until I find you._


	2. Chapter 1

**Thank you for the follows/favorites! I appreciate them so much! ^^**

 **I assume you don't want to read another long A/N, so I'll go straight into the story. Thank you, and enjoy!**

 **-Teri**

* * *

Chapter 1

 _ **Hyperial Tower  
**_ _ **Apartment 1429  
**_ _ **January 31st, 2017  
**_ _ **10:21 AM KST**_

 **Zen** : Wtf. How did it get in here?

 **Art** : She*

Art took a closer look at his profile picture as well. His hair was white ( _There's no way that's natural,_ she thought), and his eyes were bright red ( _That's not natural too)_ , reminding her of a demon. However, she had to admit that he was pretty hot, and his smile made her freeze and smile too. He seemed very familiar too; she saw him on television somewhere back at home. Was he the musical actor? Maybe.

Realizing she was still standing in front of the door, she picked up her bag again and walked down the hallway.

She was opening all of the doors and wiping her hands on her clothing afterwards. Everything was covered in dust. She would need to clean this place later. She eventually found a living room, which looked nice, and saw down on the dusty blue couch. She took her shoes off and stood there, her white socks collecting dust from the green carpet.

 **Jumin Han** : Pronouns are not important at this time. Who are you? Reveal yourself.

 **Jumin Han** : Hey, Assistant Kang.

He was very formal, or at least, he was formal until the last text he sent. She took a look at his photo too. He had black hair and black eyes, and strangely, his face looked very emotionless. His head was tilted too, which was a weird touch in her opinion, but that didn't matter at this point. He was wearing a suit too...

 _He's probably rich. But his name is familiar... What rich guy is named "Jumin Han"?_

She sat there, expecting another person to jump in. After all, he did call for his assistant, she assumed, and there was one more person who didn't speak yet - Jaehee Kang. She tilted her head too, similar to Jumin's profile, before realizing.

 _He's the CR International guy. No wonder he has an assistant and wears fancy suits._

 **Jaehee Kang** : Yes, I am here.

 _Formal_.

Her hair was brown, slightly lighter than Art's hair, however, and her eyes were a similar shade compared to her hair. Her hair was cut short, and she was wearing glasses. Jumin's last text told her that Jaehee was his assistant, and it was clear by the profile, too - she was wearing formal black clothing, but unlike Jumin, her head was perfectly straight and she had a small smile.

 **Jumin Han** : Who is it?

 **Yoosung** : Find out what it is!

 **Jaehee Kang** : How did you find out about this place? Where did you download the application?

 **707** : Oh...; Wait.

 **707** : I just found something. This is weird.

 **Zen** : What is it. Hurry and tell me.

 **707** : I traced the IP...

 **707** : It's from Rika's apartment.

 **Yoosung** : Rika's apartment?

Rika? Who was Rika? She assumed the owner of this dusty apartment used to be called Rika, and maybe she left or disappeared or died or something? She wasn't so sure. She sat there, and took off her backpack. She reached into the bag, and before pulling out her laptop, she looked around for any cameras. There were none. She pulled out her laptop, prepared to find Luciel's address.

 **707** : Anyways, someone must have broken into her apt.

Art felt the blood rush into her cheeks. That was partially true. She needed to type a response before they called the cops.

 **707** : It talked just now, so it must be a person ;

 **Art** : I am a person. I can explain how I'm here if you wish.

She turned on her laptop, waiting for a response.

 **Yoosung** : So it hacked the program, Seven?

 **707** : Yup.

It seems like they were ignoring her text. She sighed and continued reading while she started tracking down Luciel.

 **Yoosung** : Who are you?! How did you get into Rika's apartment?!

 **Yoosung** : How did you get this app?!

 **Yoosung** : Gah~ So scared right now...

 **Yoosung** : I thought the apartment has a passworth lobk?

 **Ze** **n** : Typo.

 _I was going to explain, but you decided to ignore my message._

 **Jaehee Kang** : I assume it was a break in.

 _I said, I was going to **explain** why I'm here._

The program on her laptop was starting up, filling her perfectly plain, black laptop with green lines of code and a map on the side. She was on her own at this point. She could either play it out until she somehow found her address or try to hack to find it. The second option was risky, since it would be advanced, best hacker against her, the beginner hacker that couldn't do anything.

She shut down her laptop. She would try to get his address out of him, or try to get him to come here. The hacking option was dangerous and would blow her cover immediately. Either way, she wanted to focus on trying to get these idiots to start doing this magical thing called _reading._

 **Art** : I said I would explain why I'm here. I'll explain, and then you explain what the hell is going on.

 **Art** : Also maybe who you are. I don't know anything about you guys.

She began to count the number of seconds that were passing. One... two... three...

She counted up to fifteen before realizing that the chat room was dead silent. They were all waiting, probably.

 **Art** : This app was automatically installed on this phone, although I have not touched the app store these past few days. I opened the app, only to see lines of code before being connected to this person called "Unknown."

 **Zen** : Who is Unknown?

 **Jumin Han** : Unknown...

 **707** : A hacker..?!

 **707** : No way! I have everything covered!

 **Art** : I'm a current transfer student here. My roommate was using the entire dorm for her and her boyfriend for the entire night, so I began looking for a place to stay. This "Unknown" guy told me to come here if I wanted somewhere to sleep and told me the password.

 **Yoosung** : So scary;;

 **Jaehee** **Kang** : It seems as if this "Unknown" person was following you.

 **Art** : I suspected that as well. I don't know if he still is.

 **707** : I checked the CCTV outside of the apartment. Nobody's following.

 _Are there cameras everywhere?_

She walked out of the living room and only saw two in the hallway. She opened every door to check for cameras, but there only seemed to be two in this entire apartment. She sighed. She could change and sleep without the fear of someone watching over her.

 **707** : Oh!

 **707** : I just looked up the owner of this device. Shes cute lol

 **707** : Did you dye your hair? Your hair color is different

 _Lies. I've never taken a photo of my face. And my hair color is "different"? Might as well go with it._

 _Also, is he looking at me through the camera?_ She looked up at the nearby camera before returning her attention to her phone.

 **Art** : You looked up photos of me?!

 **Art** : And yes, I did.

 **707** : Yeah lol

 **Yoosung** : You did a background check on her? So Art's definitely a girl?

 _Wait, he probably tracked one of the fake accounts connected to me... That would explain a lot._

She looked up at one of the photographs in the hallway. It was a photo of a very pretty landscape - with green hills and one tall mountain, covered in snow, right in the middle of the photo. The sky was a light blue, and it seemed that whoever took this photo took it at sunset or sunrise, since the sun seemed to be right behind the mountain, illuminating it.

She snapped a photo of it. It was the first time she used the camera app on her phone, but she wanted to save this photo.

 **707** : You like that photo?

Art read the text and stared at it.

 **Art** : You're looking at me through the camera? Still?

No response.

 **Art** : But yeah, I am a girl.

 **Zen** : Oh! A girl!

 **Jumin Han** : What? It's really a girl?

 **707** : Ya.

 **Jaehee Kang** : We should tell V about this situation.

 **Jumin Han** : Yes.

 **Jumin Han** : I hope V comes and takes care of all this.

 _That was a sudden change in topic._ She went back into the living room and sat back on the couch. _But who's V_?

 **Zen** : V's too busy these days to come chat... We'll get to talk to him because of this~

 **Yoosung** : We're all busy. I don't like that V's the only one not coming.

 **Zen** : Well... that's true...

 **Jaehee Kang** : V should know that Art is here so let's just wait.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Seven, are you calling him?

 **707** : Ya.

 _Another person is about to get involved._

She was supposed to limit it to two people who knew that she was here. Now, probably about seven people knew that she was here. She was using this messenger app to find Luciel's address, but by using this app, she dragged more people into this. Unfortunate.

 **Yoosung** : But shouldn't we tell Art what this chat room is for first?

 **Yoosung** : She has to know how serious it is that she's here!

 **Jumin Han** : What's more serious is that she's in Rika's apartment.

 **Yoosung** : That's true...

 **Jaehee Kang** : I am always ready to call the police.

 _No, don't get more people involved... don't let anyone else know I'm here! I have to be ready to intercept that call somehow..._

She turned on her laptop again.

 _Actually, I don't know how to intercept calls._

Laptop off.

 **Yoosung** : Jaehee's scary T_T

 **Jumin Han** : Until we figure out who Art is

 **Jumin Han** : I don't want to reveal anything.

 **Jaehee Kang** : I agree.

Those two were awfully similar in the way they texted, and also their thought process. It was strange.

 _Maybe they're a couple?_

 **707** : she'sstillcutelol

 **707** : sorry callingandtypingwithonehand

 **Yoosung** Type after you finish the call.

 _They're back to looking at my fake photos._

The chat was silent after that text. It wasn't silent for long, however, but it did give enough time for Art to realize that there were photographs everywhere, and they were all stunning. She liked the mountain one the best, but there was a photograph of flowers and scenery.

One photo did catch her eye - it was a fairly simple photo of the sunset, but underneath it, there was a little bit of text.

 **밝게 빛나는 태양처럼 언제나 나는 여기에.**

 _I'm always here like the sun in the sky._

Her phone vibrated again. She took a look at it, and the chat room was back alive.

 **Zen** : Show me a photo

 **707** : nope~

 **707** : How dare you try to violate someone's privacy like that.

 _I guess he finished his call. I wish I could trace calls to see where they're from, because then I would have found his address already._

Unfortunate.

A photo suddenly appeared on her screen, from 707. The first thing she realized was that the photo was not her.

It was a photo of a woman exiting a car. She had sunglasses on and a book in her hand, and was wearing a very formal suit. Her hair was brown and it was cut short...

It was Jaehee.

 **Jumin Han** : ?

 **Zen** : Is that Art?

 **Yoosung** : omg I thought it was her privacy?

 **Jaehee Kang** : ;;;;;;;

 **Art** : That's Jaehee.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Thank you, Art.

 **Yoosung** : Oh right! Sorry I was too excited;;;

 **Zen** : So... sorry for not recognizing you;;

 **Jaehee Kang** : Mr. Han, you can't recognize me either?

 **707** : Lol. Can't believe he doesn't even recognize his own assistant.

 **Jumin Han** : ...

 **Jumin Han** : Now what are we going to do?

Art was laughing. Nobody could recognize poor Jaehee, and Jumin was trying to even change the topic. She was starting to feel bad for Jaehee, although she did threaten to call the police on her.

 **V has entered the chatroom.**

 **707** : Oh, V! You're here _

 **Zen** : Finally he's here.

 **V** : Yeah. I guess I'm the last one to know about this.

 **Jumin Han** : Oh well.

 **V** : How is everyone? Jaehee, you've been well?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Yes. It's been a long time V.

She sat there, continuing to read the conversation. It seemed as if V was fairly close with all of the members, and was a kind person who cared about all of the members. Was he the leader, or were all of them equal, or was someone else the leader? She wasn't sure. She admired how he cared and treated the situation so calmly.

He respected Rika's privacy. That she admired a lot. She continued to read the messages as they came in, not wanting to say anything.

 **V** : I repeat, since the information must be protected, please do not attempt to find the apartment.

 **V** : Do not ask Art about it, and Art, please do not reveal the address.

 _Classified information..._

Eric warned her that curiosity killed the cat, and he also always said that she shouldn't stick her nose in other people's business. It was hard for her not to. After all, she loved information and memorization.

 **Art** : What's classified information? What should I not touch?

 **V** : All the information there is classified.

 _That's a lot of classified information._

 **V** : So Art... is that what I call you?

 **V** : Please do not touch anything there.

 _Unfortunately._

 **V** : For example, if you try to force open one of the drawers...

 **V** : The alarm will ring.

 _Okay, so let's not touch the drawers._

She walked into the bedroom and took a look at the workspace in the room. There were lockers, a safe, and two drawers near the bed that she promised herself she wouldn't touch, and then more drawers near the computer in the corner of the room. The computer was sitting on a glass desk, and the orange rolling chair was right next to it, waiting for someone to sit on it once again.

Art glanced over to see the bed. The sheets were white, and the headboard was blue and white. The pillows were white and fluffy as well. Unfortunately, the bed was also covered in dust, making the sheets more grey than white.

She realized that her phone was constantly ringing in the past few minutes. Opening her phone, she saw that they were all talking about what Art needed to do. Something about a party and guests?

 _Oh no, no, no... I'm going to leave in a few days anyways, I don't know why I'm being asked to do this._

 **Jaehee** **Kang** : RFA is an organization that Rika created so that anyone can freely make donations, regardless of class or nationality.

 **Jaehee Kang** : At the time, she hosted quite large parties once every two years, and they were quite successful.

 **Jaehee Kang** : This chatroom was used to discuss plans for the party.

 **707** : I created this chatroom lol.

 **Yoosung** : Everyone knows that already...

At that point, Art stopped actually reading the conversation and started to scan it. Something about parties, Rika's death, members, funds, donations, doing good for the people... She was too busy thinking about how she would pull this off in four days. February 3rd in Seoul would be her last day to eliminate him. February 4th would be her flight back home.

She shook her head and started to read the conversation again.

 **Zen** : If you join the organization, we'll be able to talk more. Not everyday we meet a pretty girl.

 **707** : Uhm, how do you know she's pretty? I didn't even send the photo.

 **Zen** : Send the photo.

 **707** : No.

 **Zen** : Damn.

 **Jumin Han** : Men will be men.

 **Zen** : And you're not a man?

 **707** : Heard somewhere Jumin's gay.

V wasn't talking. Did he leave at some point? Probably.

Jumin Han being gay? That seemed unlikely. But considering how Luciel was a hacker (a pretty good hacker too), it might be possible that he somehow dug the information up from multiple sources.

 **Zen** : Omg...

 **Zen** : Go away. You scare me.

 **Jumin Han** : Not even worth responding to that.

 **Yoosung** : But Zen, you have really low standards. You still care for looks?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Famous people must not act this way.

 **Zen** : Gosh~ I'm not famous~

 **Art** : Zen, I'm pretty sure you are. Don't try to deny it.

 **Zen** : I'm not~

 **Jumin** **Han** : Everyone stop chatting around.

 **Jumin Han** : I was talking?

 **Jaehee Kang** : I apologize.

 **Jumin Han** : Art, will you join RFA?

Art held the phone in both hands, counting the seconds in her head again. Ten seconds passed and nobody was responding to his question. They were all waiting for her.

She wanted to deny, since either way, she would be leaving soon anyways, and it seemed that the longer she was here, the more dangerous it would be for her and the others too. However, agreeing would mean that she would try to eliminate Luciel by becoming closer with him.

Her fingers began to slide across the keyboard.

 **Art** : Of course.

 **Art** : I'll do my best. I promise.

* * *

 _ **Agency of New York Headquarters  
**_ _ **Room 662 - Office of Eric Young  
**_ _ **January 30th, 2017  
**_ _ **8:24 PM EST**_

Eric was in his office, wearing a different shirt this time, his desk cleaned off other than that one coffee cup, filled to the brim with coffee. The lights were off, and the only source of light was the computer screen, which displayed a map. Dark roast with little cream and no sugar. Steaming hot. His favorite. His eyes were a lot more bloodshot than usual, which the agents didn't know how that was possible, but then again, Eric was an impossible person.

He didn't run very often, but he was the fastest runner in the agency. A mile in three minutes and fourty-two seconds.

He used to be similar to 144 - fast, and not strong, but with good aim. Now, he was still fast (hell, probably even faster than before), even weaker than before, and with mediocre aim. He went downhill as soon as he became a boss, which was almost a year ago, on his 27th birthday.

He wasn't an office person and it was clear that he preferred nature and fresh air, but he loved locking himself indoors.

He was (and still is) a loud person, but he avoided parties and talking with other agents.

He hated dogs, but he had a pet dog.

He loved details, but when describing missions to agents, he omitted as many details as possible to keep it short.

He hated the color white, but all the shirts he owned were white.

The list went on and on and on. 144 tried to ask the agents what they thought was weird about Eric by having a Poogle form opened for only the agency, and received about 5729 answers. There were, however, only 225 agents in the agency. She sent it to him, telling him that the agency agreed that he was a weird person, and he agreed that he was a weird person as well, but he was her boss and she should hurry up and work instead of creating Poogle forms.

He was working overtime - he preferred his office compared to his house. While he did have a dog at home, he had an automatic feeder and a water bowl (with an automatic dispenser) prepared to dispense food at certain times of the day. On many occasions, he wanted to send the dog to a shelter, but then realized that it would be a great way to teach him about patience.

His dog was a great teacher.

He was trying to help 144 track down the agent. It was strange though - she usually called around this time. She would call twice every night - one right now, and another a few hours before. One to make sure she knew that it was time to wake up, and one to check on how she was doing.

His phone was in his bag, silent.

He stopped working, reaching for his bag. He awkwardly moved around in his rolling chair, trying to get his bag, before he felt it. He picked it up, reached into the front pocket, and pulled out his personal phone.

 _Wrong one._

He put it back in and pulled out the agency phone. It was black, with a cherry-shaped indent on the back of it, and it was a fairly large phone. He turned on the screen.

 **Missed Call - 144**

 **New Voicemail - Dial 727**

727... his agent number. He dialed it in and held the phone to his ear, hoping for good news. After all, she typically called around 9:00 AM KST and 1:00 PM KST each day, and if she called anytime between those two times, it meant something was either great or absolutely terrible.

" _You have one new voicemail."_

He stared at the computer. It made a little noise, and a box appeared on the screen. **Error**.

Sighing a little bit, he held the phone in one hand and typed with the other. He was pretty good at hacking after the agents taught him once he became a boss. Hacking in exchange for running and killing. That was pretty good.

 _"Hello, Mr. Young!"_

Her voice was abnormally cheerful.

 _"I know that this is a strange time to call, and you didn't pick up, but there's good news. I found an address connected to Choi."_

His typing hand froze. She found an address? That was pretty impressive. He's have to ask her how as soon as she came back.

 _"Once I go there, however, I may be unable to contact you and the agency, since it will be more dangerous there. I hope I can eliminate him in four days. If anything happens, which I am hope nothing will, well...  
_

 _Let's not think about that, hm? Stay safe. Tell the others to stay safe as well."  
_

Click.

 _"Press 1 if you would like to repeat the voicemail. Press 2 to save the voicemail. Press 7 to dele-."_

He set the phone down, ending the call. She always ended her calls like that - telling him and the agency to stay safe. It became a habit of hers at that point, and every agent could easily tell you what she ended her calls with.

But this time...

Time was running out. There was little time left, and all Eric could wonder was, _Is this the last call she'll make with me? With anyone in the agency?_

He shook his head and returned to work. No, she'll finish and come back, and then another mission will be handed to her. It'll be fine, typical, just a normal day again. Nothing else.

But just in case...

 _Good luck, 144. Don't let us down._

 _And thank you._

* * *

"밝게 빛나는 태양처럼 언제나 나는 여기에/I'm always here like the sun in the sky."

 **The lyrics are from Like the Sun in the Sky, performed by Han/Sirius (the song that is played after you finish a route? Yeah, it's this one). I do not own this song.**

 **Please review/criticize, but don't hate! Thanks again, and see you next time!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Spoiler alert about Unknown in this chapter; please be advised.**

 **Thank you! (And enjoy!)**

* * *

Chapter 2

 _ **Hyperial Tower  
**_ _ **Apartment 1429  
**_ _ **January 31st, 2017  
**_ _ **11:07 AM KST**_

Art was sitting on the couch, her laptop on the coffee table. The screen had a map on it, as well as a few lines of code, and she was constantly reminding herself that this was a room without any cameras. She was safe here. Luciel wouldn't be able to see her trying to find the RFA members' addresses, right?

The chat ended at around 10:32 AM, giving her a chance to try to think about her next move. She wanted to go straight for Luciel, before realizing that it was a terrible idea, and he would probably find out that it was her who tried to find his address.

She sat on the couch, her laptop on the Welcome screen, leaning back on the couch, and staring at the white ceiling, her legs resting next to her laptop. Her hands were behind her head, and she was thinking. Target Luciel, or just don't do anything at all? She only had four days - well, less than four days - and doing nothing may take a bit too long. While she wanted to just wait for the opportunity to come, it may come just a bit too late.

10:35 AM.

The curtains were pretty, in her opinion. They were white, and were held up by a bronze bar with an elaborate design at the ends of the bar. The sunlight from the window gave it a slight shimmer, and that looked beautiful. She thought that maybe, if she decided to open the glass door, the curtains would flutter in the slight breeze outside and look even better.

The view outside the window was beautiful too. She saw buildings and skyscrapers, and while she was just a bit terrified of heights, she loved being here and staring out the window.

 _Who am I kidding? This is terrifying._

Okay, so maybe she wasn't just a bit terrified of heights.

10:45 AM.

Her eyes would occasionally glance at the drawers. She wanted to open them so badly, although she didn't bring her lock-picking tools. Luckily, she always brought paperclips for papers, as well as opening doors with normal locks and not fancy number or ID scanning locks. However, it would probably be a better idea to break the locks at the end, right before she left. That would be her final smack in the face to RFA after killing Luciel.

10:55 AM.

She didn't know what type of person Luciel was, but she hoped that he cared about his friends. He seemed a bit playful and seemed to be the person who loved pranks and jokes, but she couldn't confirm that since the only "prank" he played so far was sending a photo of Jaehee to the chat after they asked for a photo of her. If he cared for the RFA members, she could use that as her advantage.

And now? It was 11:07 AM, and she was trying to find the address of the other RFA members to try to use it to her advantage. She was in his territory, which was already a disadvantage. She didn't know what was in this apartment - there were cameras already. There could be some security system, or anything of that sort that could easily report her to the police. There could even be a bomb in here, but who would ever decide that putting a bomb in the apartment was a good idea? Nobody, she hoped.

Her laptop was doing all the work for her - the easiest person she found was Yoosung. Twenty-one years old in Korea, twenty in the States. College student at SKY University. Dorm 482. Born on March 12th, 1996. Blood type A. Majoring in medicine? Surprising.

She was working on Zen now. If he was a famous actor, and she knew he was because of his photo, he should be easy to find.

There was a sound.

Vibrations? It sounded like something was vibrating, in a certain pattern.

Three buzzes, then a one second pause, before repeating. The pattern was familiar to her, because well, that was the pattern of her phone if someone decided to call her. She reached over for her phone, which was face-down on the wooden coffee table, and took a look at the screen.

101-9127-2357? She didn't recognize the number. She prepared herself to put on a fake voice, since she felt something inside her. A feeling that was crawling up her throat, and forcing her to sit straight up on the couch. She knew that feeling too well. Curiosity.

She held the little phone icon in the middle of the screen and dragged it to the right to pick up.

 _"Your bank account has been used for a fun prank. Were you aware of this? I must first confirm your cell phone number to verify your identity so please calmly follow the instructions._ " She understood every word of that - he spoke Korean, but there was some strange accent. But why would a Korean bank call her about her nonexistent Korean bank account?

Actually, maybe it was about the debit card? But why would they call _her_?

Or it could be a prank? She wasn't so sure, but she decided to assume it was a prank. Banks normally wouldn't use the word "fun" as a description word when speaking to a customer, right?

She would return the favor to whoever was calling her.

"Oh no! What am I going to do?" She made her pitch and volume suddenly go up, sounding more like a squeak toy than a human. "I feel my heart stopping! I don't think I can breathe now!"

There was laughter on the other side of the phone. The laughter sounded normal, but she couldn't recognize who it was. She eventually asked, still with the strange, high-pitched voice, "Are you dying, too? Do I need to arrange a funeral for the two of us?"

The laughter was even louder.

She waited, starting to count again. One... two... three... four...

The laughter was starting to die down. There was a small, joyful sigh, and a small cough. His laughter was enjoyable. She could probably record it and listen to it all day, and never get sick of it. It was loud, but childish and playful, and something about that made her want to know who he was.

 _Hahaha... God, your voice is so cute."_ The accent was gone.

"Cute? Who are you?" Still maintaining her high-pitched voice, she opened the door to the hallway, before walking to the kitchen. She needed water. The voice was starting to make her throat dry.

There was a small giggle from the other side that made her smile just a bit. _"It's the Hacker God! 707, the Defender of Justice!"_

Her smile immediately faded.

 _"I was going to call from the RFA app, but it wasn't working. Hm. Maybe something with the Unknown person you mentioned before?"_

She was talking to Luciel himself. Her target. She nearly flicked herself while she was on her phone, but her free hand was opening every single white cabinet in hopes of looking for a cup or glass. There were an awful lot of plates for some reason, but no glasses. Strange.

She returned her attention back to her phone.

"I think so." Her voice was normal. "So, 707, how are you?"

 _Get close with him. That's your backup plan if finding the other members don't work._

She leaned on the white kitchen counter, which was right in the middle of the kitchen. Bright lights were hanging from the ceiling, and it was only about 4 feet higher than the counter top. The stove was electric, but it was dusty as well, just like everything else. There was a small window on the side of the room, with the same white curtains. There was a lot of white in the kitchen, other than the occasional black detail or the black paint used to paint the main body of the cabinets.

There was an audible sigh from the phone. _"Unfortunately, the Defender of Justice must work. So much work to do!"_

"It's alright, Defender of Justice! You'll finish it someday!" _Get close. Get close with him._ _But don't feel anything for him._

 _"I will! Did you eat yet?"_

She glanced at the clock. It was 11:12 AM, so not yet. "No, not yet. I will soon though. Am I allowed to leave? For food and stuff?"

 _"About that..."_

"About what?"

 _"About that..."_

"What does the Defender of Justice have to say about me leaving the apartment?"

 _"The Defender of Justice, God Seven, says that you are allowed to leave the apartment for food! Preferably for Honey Buddha Chips and Dr. Pepper!"_

Honey Buddha Chips and Dr. Pepper? That was a little strange. She'd had them separately, and they were alright on their own. Not realizing that a small smile was back on her face, she replied, "Oh, God Seven, I'll be sure to get some Honey Buddha Chips and Dr. Pepper!"

Laughter. He was still laughing when he replied, _"I want to give a bag of chips to you right now~"_

"I would be blessed if you gave them to me." Her elbow was leaning against the counter top, completely forgetting about her need for water. She was smiling like an idiot, however, temporarily forgetting about how she was supposed to dislike Luciel.

 _"Haha, anyways, to the main point of this conversation! I hope you don't mind that I called you - the phone number didn't lead me to anything, so I had to make sure! I'll call you with the RFA app from now on."_

"You can call with the RFA app?"

 _"Yep! You'll see our faces and names on the screen as soon as someone calls with the app!"_

"That's pretty cool. And you made this?"

 _"Of course! God Seven can do anything for the RFA!"_

She was smiling and laughing. She was bending over the counter, her face being greeted by the freezing cold top. She held the phone in her hand, and her index finger was constantly rubbing the back of her phone, which was a habit she had when she was happy.

"Duh."

 _"Unfortunately, the Defender of Justice, God Seven, must now leave to do more work. Please take good care of RFA, okay?_ " He sounded like he didn't want to stop talking.

"Of course! Have fun, God Seven!"

 _Click_.

She was still smiling, her eyes illuminated by the bright lights as well as her joy, before realizing that she wasn't supposed to be like this.

She wasn't supposed to smile and laugh when talking to her target.

She was supposed to stay focused. To observe every flaw and to use it to her advantage. That was how she was successful. She would analyze, and then attack from the shadows. Analyze. Analyze. If she wanted to eliminate him, she would have to analyze him.

"Take care of RFA?" she muttered. Her fingers were tapping against the counter. "He cares about RFA. Finding their addresses was a good idea." Maybe that was the only thing she could use to her advantage?

"Playful."

"Talented."

"Funny."

She continued to think about more flaws, but all she came up were adjectives. Positive adjectives, too. She walked out of the kitchen, shutting off the lights in the process, and walked back into the living room. Analyze. Analyze. Analyze.

 _His voice was really nice. Not deep, like the agents back in New York, but somewhere in the middle of the range. It was nice to listen to._

 _No, Art, stop. Focus on his flaws._

 _His laughter was nice._

 _Stop. Now. You can't fail this._

 _He seems really nice; I can't understand why anyone would want to eliminate him._

 _He's an agent, just like you._

There was only one thought in her head right now, instead of the sudden rush of thoughts she had before.

 _But ag_ _ents lie._

This single thought was repeating in her head, louder and louder, while she was trying to ignore it, but listen to it at the same time. There was no way he could be lying about who he really was, right? Maybe he was a playful agent.

Then again, he could be pretending to be playful. Maybe he lied about the tracing the phone call thing and actually knew that she was an agent. Maybe he was planning to eliminate her too. Maybe he knew that she was here just to kill him...

She stared back at her computer, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She couldn't lose focus. Definitely not, since everyone would be in danger if she lost focus.

Breathe.

Her chest rose and fell, and she began to focus as a small box appeared on the screen, with black text.

 **Address found - 1.25 km away from current location.**

She wasn't smiling this time. She took note of the address in a small blue notebook nearby. It was filled, almost to the end, with mission information and memories she wanted to cherish. She looked at the title of the page.

 **RFA Addresses**

Two down, four more to go.

* * *

 _ **C &R International Offices  
** **Room 2394 - Office of Jaehee Kang  
** **January 31st, 2017  
** **11:15 AM KST**_

Jaehee Kang was lucky that she wasn't busy today.

Typically, she'd be greeted by mountains of paperwork when she walked into her office, at exactly 8:00 AM, and then she'd have more when she came back after Jumin's meetings, at around 9-10 AM. She'd have even more when someone stopped by to drop more off about her boss's cat projects and the occasional normal project at around 12:00 PM, and then a meeting again at around 2-3 PM, which meant paperwork and reports.

Luckily for today, there was no meeting in the morning, and there was only a few sheets of paper on her desk. That she finished in less than an hour, since she just needed to do a little bit of research about oil. Nothing more. She found a person nicknamed the Oil Prince who she was excited to reach out to. The economy was always changing, and establishing connections with the Oil Prince would be a good idea in case something about the economy went wrong.

She was now in her office, enjoying her free time. Jumin didn't text her yet, which meant that he was probably fairly free as well.

She was on the RFA Messenger, the familiar blue screen on her phone, with the messages from half an hour ago on her phone. Her eyes were still slightly wide from the memories of the chat. A new member? Jaehee still felt discomfort when seeing her messages. She still couldn't trust her yet, although V and Luciel approved her as a member.

 **Art has entered the chatroom.**

And there she was, in the room. Just her and Art.

 **Art** : Hello Jaehee! How are you?

 _That was kind of her to ask,_ she thought.

 **Jaehee Kang** : I am doing well, thank you.

 **Jaehee Kang** : I am glad that I do not have much work to do today. It is a rare treat.

 **Art** : Aw, does Jumin give you a lot of work to do?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Yes, but I can manage it.

That sounded right, right? It wasn't a rude statement... nor was it a statement implying that she couldn't do much work...

 **Art** : Why don't you say something about it to Jumin? It's not good to have a lot of work to do.

 **Jaehee Kang** : I am only a company worker with a low position.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Anyways... thank you.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Have you gotten used to the organization yet?

 _While I'd like to remain positive, I am certain she has not. After all, this is only her second hour._

Jaehee put her arms on the table, phone still in hand. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, looking around her office for anything that could entertain her while she was waiting for a response. Her office was plain - the walls were white, the desk and the drawers were all black, and the floor was grey. Nothing else. Jumin, after all, wanted a "modern" look for the office, and Mr. Chairman agreed to that as well.

She remembered when all offices could be customized. Her office would smell like cinnamon and coffee, although it smelled more like cinnamon, giving her a relaxing feeling when there was a lot of work to do. She took a small breath. Sometimes, she could still smell the cinnamon-coffee combination if she really wanted to.

 **Art** : Hm... no. Everyone's really nice.

 _They are. I'm surprised by your answer though..._

 **Jaehee Kang** : I am sure everyone will be since you are a girl.

 **Jaehee Kang** : To be honest, I do not fully trust you yet...

 **Jaehee Kang** : But if I were in your position right now, I would have been more confused.

There was the sound of a knock on the door. She stood up, one hand massaging her neck and the other still typing. She began to walk towards the door.

 **Jaehee Kang** : I enjoyed talking with you. I'll be off...

 **Jaehee Kang** : I have to get the door.

 **Art** : Okay, thank you, Jaehee.

 **Jaehee Kang has left the chatroom**.

She put the phone into her pocket and opened the shiny, recently painted white door. The metal handle felt cold as ice to her warm hands.

She took a look at the person standing right in front of her door. He had red hair and golden eyes (which were nice, but not as pretty as Zen's red eyes), with glasses that were reflecting the sunlight from Jaehee's office. His mouth was slightly open, as if he was in shock, and his phone, in its bright yellow case, was in his hand.

Jaehee noticed one thing that scared her.

His knuckles were white.

"Luciel? What are you doing here?"

"Where's Jumin?"

Jaehee opened the door even wider. "He should be in his office. What is wrong?"

"I need to talk to him." The more he talked, the more out of breath he sounded, and the more his grip on his phone tightened. He was standing up straight, with a sense of urgency that Jaehee never felt when Luciel was talking in the chats.

"What do you need to talk to him about?"

There was a long pause. Luciel seemed to be biting the inside of his cheek. Jaehee stood up straight, tilting her head slightly. She was glad she had time today. However, she felt her eyebrows raise the longer the pause was.

Something had to be wrong.

For Luciel to run all the way here, something was very wrong. If it was a situation that didn't require immediate attention, he would have used the RFA chat to contact them. But here he was, in front of her, panicking about finding Jumin.

Finally, the pause ended.

"I need you to send bodyguards to everyone's house."

"What do you mean? Come in. We cannot let anyone else know about this if it is an RFA matter."

He walked in, one hand fiddling with the cross necklace. Jaehee closed the door right behind him, quietly, in hopes of not disturbing anyone else nearby.

"Do you have water?"

She turned around, facing Luciel, who looked to be around the same height from here, when he was actually taller than her. He was still breathing heavily, and it was clear from the droplets of sweat on his forehead that he probably ran up the stairs to get to her office, all the way on the 23rd floor. She wasn't even sure how he got past security, but that wasn't important right now.

"Not here. It is downstairs. Would you like me-"

"There's no time."

"Luciel, an explanation would be nice, please."

He took a seat in her chair and leaned back, evidently trying to relax. "I received a message from 'Unknown.'"

"What?"

"Yeah. Here you go." He handed the phone to Jaehee. "Read the message and then you'll understand why we need bodyguards."

She took the phone and pushed her glasses up.

 _Luciel..._

 _It's time for RFA to come to Magenta._

 _Watch your backs._

* * *

 **Korean phone numbers typically start with 010 or something with 01x, but I didn't want the phone number I put to accidentally trace to a real, actual phone number, hence the 101 beginning.**

 **Please tell me if anything is OOC - I'm struggling with that aspect of the story and I'm unsure as to how I should fix that issue. I tried making Seven serious in this one, since, well, RFA is being threatened. By this "Unknown" person. I tried to make his reaction similar to his reaction in his route when (spoiler, so I won't say).**

 **I tried making Jaehee formal, and although I know there's a clear, distinct line between her and Jumin, I rewrote her lines about 50% of the time because it sounded too much like a Jumin thing, and I'm not sure if her lines are more Jumin-styled...**

 **Jumin-styled... haha...**

 **From here on out, I will warn you about spoilers (like I did at the beginning of this one). Since you've managed to make it this far (thank you!), there will be spoilers about Seven's route, partially Yoosung's route, maybe a bit of Zen's route...**

 **Actually, just spoilers for every single route, and secret endings included. Sorry if you want to keep reading but you don't like spoilers;;**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading! Have a nice day!**

 **-Teri**


	4. Chapter 3

**It's moving a bit faster than I expected, but I'm going to pull it back now, or try to.**

 **Anyways, thank you AmaryMei; I'm glad you enjoy the concept.**

 **Thank you, to all who are reading this! Please enjoy!**

 **(Very slight spoiler alert; please be advised.)**

* * *

Chapter 3

 _ **Hyperial Tower  
**_ _ **Apartment 1429  
**_ _ **January 31st, 2017  
**_ _ **12:24 PM KST**_

"All finished. I hope the computer's finished its work too."

Art stood in the middle of the hallway, holding the lime green broom in her hand and an used-to-be-white-but-now-grey cloth in her other hand. She had one hand on her hip and a small smile on her face when she saw that the apartment was now clean, the floor shimmering in the florescent lights from the ceiling, and the metal handles freed from the dust. Her hair had a little bit of dust on it, and her black shirt (she had to take off her jacket because she was sweating) along with her jeans were covered in the grey dust that she was trying to remove.

She walked into the kitchen, admiring her work. What used to be a dull kitchen was now more vibrant, the black of the kitchen contrasting the white much more than before. It was probably because the white was now actually white instead of being a light grey.

She was, however, still looking for cups or glasses, but every single cabinet she checked had plates, except for one. But that one cabinet had two glasses, a spoon, a fork, a knife, and a pair of chopsticks. Nothing else. But why were there so many plates? Three, no, four cabinets filled with multicolored plates were no use if there were only two glasses, one spoon, one fork, one knife, and one pair of chopsticks. It seemed that only one person lived in this apartment before Art came in.

She opened the fridge, which happened to be completely empty. She still needed to go outside to buy food for her to well, survive. She did, however, already boil water in a little kettle in the oven ( _The previous inhabitant did exactly what I do at home..._ ), so she was enjoying her nice, refreshing, warm glass of water which soothed her throat after her conversation with Luciel.

Luciel.

Luciel.

Luciel.

He was so playful when he called. Art couldn't imagine putting a knife to his throat and seeing him crack a joke before he died. It didn't feel right doing that. This was only her, what, third hour here? And she was already getting closer with the RFA members. She didn't want to make them suffer by killing Luciel. She didn't even want Luciel to suffer.

She looked down at her phone and sighed. Her previous conversations with the RFA members...

She received a call from Yoosung a few minutes before she even started to clean the apartment.

 _"Hello? I'm so glad you picked up! How's the apartment?"_

That voice... it was filled with so much joy and innocence that Art had to smile and laugh and reply with the same amount of joy and innocence in Yoosung's voice. They discussed a few things about LOLOL and RFA... it seemed to Art that Yoosung was absolutely obsessed with LOLOL, but that only seemed to fit in with his innocent voice and looks. He wouldn't stop talking about the game, but she didn't mind. She leaned back on the couch while listening to him speak, her hair now covered in dust because of the couch. She didn't care about that.

Zen also called right after Yoosung.

 _"Hey, where are you?"_

She had to explain how she was still in the apartment and laughed when she realized that he made a mistake and accidentally called her instead. Zen seemed to be the type of person to easily fall in love, considering how he said something along the lines of "fate wanted us to meet" to her. She nearly died laughing at that point, but kept her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from sounding rude.

She was lucky to have him call her. Part of her mind kept track of what he was saying about the RFA members, some positive, one negative. That negative statement was about Jumin. Automatically, that feeling began to grow in her again.

Curiosity. It was easily recognizable at that point.

How upsetting that whatever god, gods, or just whatever in general cursed her with curiosity. She couldn't stop thinking about Jumin after that. Was he really a douche? Was he really rude? Why did Zen hate him? Did they have some history back then that caused them to act this way towards each other? That wasn't possible, was it? After all, they were in the same organization, and they wouldn't be in the same organization if they kept on arguing with each other. Maybe they just joked with each other about hating each other. But then again, something in his voice suggested that they truly hated each other...

The most obvious move to do after this call?

Call Jumin Han.

 _"Jumin Han speaking._ "

She continued to speak to him, taking in the fact that Jumin was serious. She liked that. He was straight to the point, and in a way, cold, but also gentle. He complimented her about her courage but also told her to never call him again unless it was an emergency. His voice was deep, but quiet, and Art was fairly certain that a recording of Jumin reading books could put anyone to sleep since his voice was so nice. She was tempted to fall asleep after hearing his voice, since she was quite tired, but she decided to clean the apartment instead.

She looked around the now-clean apartment. That was a good choice she made.

She finished her glass of water and walked back in the living room, only stopping to put her jacket back on before walking back out into the hallway. Her phone was in her jacket pocket, and it seemed to be vibrating a lot. It wasn't the normal pattern of vibrations when someone called her, but it was nonstop vibrating. Notifications, maybe?

She walked to the door, unlocking her phone and opening the RFA app while walking. She wanted to read past messages in order to get an idea of what was going on, but that didn't seem to be necessary.

 **707** : Art! You're here!

He seemed to be surprised by her appearance for some reason, although she wasn't sure why.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Art, lock the door and don't move.

 **Art** : What? Why?

 **707** :I'm contacting V right now but he isn't picking up;;

 **707** : Did you call Jumin yet?

 **Jumin Han has entered the chatroom.**

 **Jumin Han** : Yes, Assistant Kang did contact me. I have instructed the bodyguards to go to the members' houses.

 **Jaehee Kang** : What about Art?

 **Jumin Han** : I cannot send bodyguards there without the address. The address is secret as well.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Even at a time like this?

 **Jaehee Kang** : I understand that RFA has important secrets, but Art's life is in danger.

 **Art** : What is going on?

 **707** : I'm so sorry Jumin

 **707** : I have to ask V before I can tell you the address

 **Art** : What. Is. Going. On.

A small pause. Art stood there, waiting for an answer. An explanation. Anything but "you don't want to know."

 **Jaehee Kang** : Sincere apologies, Art. We should explain.

 _Thank you, Jaehee._ She smiled and waited for an explanation. However, she was surprised to see that Jaehee was not the one sending the explanation. The person who decided to tell her why she was being told this happened to be Luciel.

Her target.

 **707** : Unknown sent me a message threatening the RFA members;;

 **707** : Art, if anyone comes in and you hear some security system go off...

 **707** : Leave.

 **707** : Okay?

 _That's a weird request... I wonder what's going on._

 **Art** : Alright, but why?

 **707 has left the chatroom.**

 **Jaehee** **Kang** : Luciel?

 **Jaehee Kang** : That's unusual.

 **Art** : I hope he's alright...

 **Art** : But I'm still a little confused. So exactly what happened?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Luciel received messages directed towards him, but it implied that the person was going to harm all the RFA members.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Which is why Mr. Han is sending bodyguards to everyone's homes, except for Rika's apartment.

 **Jumin Han** : I do not like how the address cannot be revealed even though Art is in danger.

 **Jumin Han** : I must go, however. Elizabeth 3rd's meows are calling for me.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Is that why you weren't at work today?;;

 **Jumin Han** : Stay safe, Art.

 **Jumin Han** : Excuse me.

 **Jumin Han has left the chatroom.**

 **Jaehee Kang** : ;;;

 **Jaehee Kang** : Mr. Han has a surprise meeting in the afternoon that he should attend since it's with Mr. Chairman...

 **Jaehee Kang** : But if he doesn't come to work...

 **Art** : It's okay, Jaehee. Tell me if you need help with your work.

Unlike previous times, this was genuine. Unlike previous times, Art didn't have to hesitate before writing a response that seemed kind. Her fingers just did the work for her.

Which was a problem.

The thing was, Art didn't see any problem in her responses, which was an even bigger problem.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Thank you, Art. You are very kind.

 **Jaehee Kang** : I must go now. Goodbye, Art.

 **Jaehee Kang has left the chatroom**

 **Art has left the chatroom.**

 _Wait, so can I leave the apartment now?_

She reached for the lock on top of the metal handle and heard the satisfying click that told her that the door was unlocked.

She was going to turn the metal handle, until she felt it. Her phone. It was vibrating in her pocket.

Someone was calling her.

She pulled her phone out of the pocket and took a look at the contact. It was Luciel.

She picked up.

 _"Don't leave!"_

"What?" Was he looking at her through the camera? Did he see her unlock the door? She turned around to face the camera and looked right into it. "Are you spying on me again?"

 _"God Seven is always watching~"_ There was a slight hint of seriousness in his voice, which was clear since his voice was just slightly deeper than usual. His words were also slightly, but barely noticeably, slurred. How much sleep was he running on?

She forced herself to giggle.

"But anyways, why shouldn't I leave?"

There was some silence. She stood there, raising her eyebrows while staring at the camera, and leaned against the door, feeling the cold metal door against her back. The doorknob was digging into her side. _That's uncomfortable,_ she thought.

There was a small sigh on the other side of the phone, and then a sudden intake of breath. _"I'm worried you'll be in danger if you leave."_

"Thank you for your concern, but I do sort of have to leave..."

 _"You do?"_ The pitch of his voice suddenly skyrocketed, and he was much louder than before.

We he afraid she was going to leave RFA?

"I'm not leaving RFA, don't worry. The fridge's empty so I thought I'd go and get some food." She turned away from the camera right after that sentence. It's been a while since she spoke Korean, and something sounded very off about the last sentence, since she was certain she didn't pronounce a few words correctly. She'd have to practice when she had the time.

She heard a sigh on the other side of the phone, and when he spoke, his voice was back to normal. His normal, playful voice.

 _"Hm... I'll let you go out the door on one condition."_

One condition? She smiled, just a bit. His playful tone was back, overpowering his previous tone. "What is it?"

 _"Get some Honey Buddha Chips and Dr. Pepper, of course!"_

She faced the camera again, smiling even wider than before. She leaned back against the door and put one hand in her pocket, before saying, "I'll think about it." This was the second time she heard of this combination, both times from the same person... perhaps it was a rare, but interesting, combination? Or was this one of his pranks - giving two foods to her that were disgusting together? She'd have to try it as soon as possible.

He also promised to give her a bag of the rare chips. But it seemed as if she'd be getting them now.

 _"You'll think about it? The Defender of Justice refuses to accept such an answer!"_

"Hm, then... yes. I'll try it."

 _"Perfect! Stay safe, Art!"_

 _Click._

She turned around, her smile suddenly fading.

She was suddenly forgetting everything the agency taught her. To ignore her feelings. To live a life without family or friends outside of the agency. To be independent.

Independent.

She was taught the textbook definition of independent. They were asked to repeat it to themselves, in order to make sure that they wouldn't forget it so easily. After all, independence was important for the agency to run properly.

 _Not connected with another or with each other._

She opened the door, and walked out into the hallway, looking down at her phone. Was it right? To forget everything she was taught because of this group? To create connections with others? To feel something for this group, who she had only been talking to for less than a day?

 _It isn't, Art. Focus._

She shook her head and put her phone back in her pocket. Art made a turn and walked down the hall. Independence was important. Feelings were not. That's how they were taught, and that's how she would operate.

She refused to let any of the RFA members get to her.

She refused to fail this mission.

She refused.

Her sneakers made a quiet sound as it brushed against the carpeted floor. Art shook her head when she reached the next platform.

 _I'm going to stay independent._

 _I promise._

* * *

 _ **SKY National University  
**_ _ **Dorm 482 - Yoosung's Dorm  
**_ _ **January 31st, 2017  
**_ _ **1:34 PM KST**_

"No! Why are you doing that, you idiot?! The right side is completely open, but you _had_ to go for the left!"

A figure was sitting right in front of the computer, while the sun was coming in from the window right next to him. He had blonde hair, all messed up, and the two clips that were typically clipping his bangs were now closer to the very tips of his bangs from the constant head movements he was making when screaming into the shiny black headset. His violet eyes were glaring into the computer, but they were also filled with a type of determination...

Determination to win this round of LOLOL, of course.

There was a bag of Honey Buddha Chips, opened, but still full, right next to him, and occasionally, when he'd sigh in disappointment, he'd reach for a chip and slowly nibble crumbs off of it until the chip was gone. They were a rare treat, after all.

That was exactly what he was doing now. He let go of the mouse and shook his hand, feeling slight pain from holding the mouse too tightly. He reached for a chip and began to eat it like a mouse would. His guild members were screaming in his ear in hoped of Yoosung returning to the game again so that they could defeat the boss monster, but at that point, Honey Buddha Chips seemed more tempting than continuing to play the game.

He sighed after finishing the chip. It was so good... the sweet and the salty of the chip combined...

He returned his attention back to the screen. The other members were still fighting. He turned the microphone back on and began talking, his mouse clicking rapidly. Occasionally, he'd press a number key or two, but that was rare. He wanted to save all his special moves for when they were truly needed.

 _"You're finally back! Good! Can you cover the left side? We don't want him to go for our shrine."_

"Alright."

He sat up straight, his mouse moving faster than ever in hopes of protecting their precious shrine, whose destruction would mean the end of the round. He furrowed his eyebrows as he defeated the smaller enemies and occasionally launched an attack at the boss.

The gigantic green monster turned towards Yoosung's champion.

"Perfect. Can you guys cover the smaller enemies? I can take down the boss."

 _"I got it."_

The other champions ran away to take care of the enemies, leaving Yoosung alone with the green monster. He began to slam all of his number keys, smiling when he saw that the boss' health was slowly going down. It had barely any health left, and his guild members decided to return to finally defeat the boss.

 _Beep_.

His phone vibrated. Perhaps it was RFA? It did vibrate quite a lot before, but Yoosung was too busy screaming to notice.

Yoosung glanced at his phone, before looking back at the screen. His guild members could deal with the boss, considering how he had less than 5% of his HP left. He turned off his mic and picked up his phone, ignoring the other guild members cheering.

 **Zen has entered the chatroom.**

 **Zen** : What?!

 **Zen** : Art! If you see this, tell me if you're safe, alright?

What? Who was in danger? He scrolled up, just a tiny bit, and began to read. A fear and worry gripped his heart. Art. Was she alright? Was everyone alright? And if what Jumin said was true, the doorbell should ring around now. Jumin's bodyguards were slow, but they wouldn't take that long to arrive. After all, they were hired by Jumin.

 **Yoosung** : Zen! Did they come yet?

 **Zen** : Who?

 **Yoosung** : The bodyguards that Jumin said he'd send.

 **Jumin Han** : Hm... They should have arrived by now.

Yoosung blinked before reading the name again. Was he reading correctly? Was Jumin here this entire time?

 **Zen** : What? What are you doing here?

 **Jumin Han** : I've been here since the meeting began. It is quite boring.

 **Zen** : Oh, so you're giving Jaehee all the work to do again?

 **Zen** : Give her a break! I'm surprised you even decided to show up for work.

 **Jumin Han** : There is a reason why Assistant Kang does work. It is because she earns money from it.

 **Jumin Han** : I must go.

 **Jumin Han** : Excuse me.

 **Jumin Han has left the chatroom.**

 **Zen** : Stupid trust fund kid...

 **Zen** : Yoosung, are you playing LOLOL again?

 **Yoosung** : The round ended. I'm planning to play another round

 **Yoosung** : But I'm worried;;;; Is Art alright?

 **Zen** : I hope she is.

 **Yoosung** : So do I...

 **Zen** : Hey, don't you have classes today?

 **Yoosung** : No, no classes today.

 **707 has entered the chatroom.**

 **Yoosung** : Seven! How is Art?

 **707** : The Hacker God will tell you...

 **707** : She is safe!

 **Zen** : That's good. Tell her to be careful.

 **Zen** : The director is outside, so I'll be back.

 **Zen has left the chatroom.**

 **707** : But she's out getting groceries, and I can't see her to make sure she's safe there;;

 **Yoosung** : She's out getting groceries?!

 **Yoosung** : Can't you hack into the security camera or something to make sure nobody attacks her while she's getting food;;;

 **707** : There's five nearby supermarkets

 **707** : Three of them don't have security cameras;;

Yoosung looked back on the screen. He wasn't really listening to what his guild members were saying, but he focused on what they were screaming once he saw the screen.

 _Defeat._

Defeat? How was that possible? The boss had barely any health left, and there was no way they were unable to take down the boss with so many members. That is, until he listened to what his members were saying, while his phone was vibrating from Seven's messages...

 _"ShootingStar, are you serious?! There was another boss near our shrine that_ you _could have taken out!"_

 _"Yeah! Why didn't you? Did you not hear what we were screaming?!"_

He turned his mic on.

"I'm sorry..."

 _"You better be!"_

He turned his mic off again and read 707's messages.

 **707** : I wish I could see her...

 **707** : Preferably in real life...

 **707** : I have to return to working now;; Have fun, Yoosung.

 **707 has left the chatroom.**

He closed the RFA app and returned to the virtual world. He would play another round. And maybe another after that...

He didn't care about how much time he was dedicating to LOLOL as long as he won every single round.

But he wouldn't give up after one defeat... no. He had to prove himself worthy of being in this guild. He would play again and again until his reputation was back to normal. Maybe even higher than before.

He turned the mic on back again and put his phone to the side, his determined eyes focusing on the screen. He would win this time.

"I'm back, guys. And I promise I'll lead us all to victory!"

After all, he did just promise them a win.

* * *

 **The definition of independent ("** _Not connected with another or with each other._ **"** **) is from Google. I do not own the definition (considering how I can't exactly define/explain things, so yeah. That's that). It's not from any printed dictionary or anything; if you search up "independent definition" and go to definition number three for adjective... well, I think you get the point.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter; I was just going to end it off at the last sentence, but then I realized I had to explain where the definition came from... but...**

 **Thank you so much! Have a nice day!**

 **-Teri**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello!  
**

 **Thank you Tittely, OSAMA NEKONI, and homuhoney for your reviews! And I've been a *little* slow on the PM thanking, so I sincerely apologize to all of the newer followers. I hope I can reach out to you soon.**

 **It's a slightly longer A/N this time, but I'm just going to warn you that the next update will come out slightly later than usual, because midterms are this week;; Apologies!**

 **Thank you!**

* * *

Chapter 4

 _ **RFA Chatroom  
**_ _ **January 31st, 2017  
**_ _ **3:15 PM KST**_

 **Yoosung has entered the chatroom.**

 **Yoosung** : Jumin!

 **Jumin Han** : Yes?

 **Yoosung** : I was wondering...

 **Zen has entered the chatroom.**

 **Yoosung** : You said you sent bodyguards to us, right?

 **Jumin Han** : I did.

 **Zen** : You did?

 **Zen** : Did you really?

 **Jumin Han** : Of course I did.

 **Jumin Han** : What is wrong?

 **Yoosung** : They're not here.

 **Zen** : And it's been almost three hours since you called them.

 **Jumin Han** : That's strange.

 **Jumin Han** : Assistant Kang.

 **Zen** : She's not here -_-

 **Jumin Han** : I must call her. Something is wrong.

 **Jumin Han** : The bodyguards have never disobeyed my requests before.

 **Jumin Han has left the chatroom.**

* * *

 _ **Hyperial Tower  
**_ _ **Apartment 1429  
**_ _ **January 31st, 2017  
**_ _ **3:26 PM KST**_

Art took a look at her notebook while lying down on the couch, her left arm being crushed by her own weight and creating a feeling of pins and needles. The page with the RFA addresses were all filled, except for Luciel's and V's information. Luciel's information she didn't want to go into, in fear of him finding out who she really was. V... He was a special case.

Her wet socks were on the couch, since it decided to start pouring while she was out grocery shopping. Her shoes and jacket were near the radiator, and Art didn't mind that her pants and hair were soaking wet, since her only goal was to devise a plan using the information in the book. She knew all four of their addresses, although she wanted to find out all the members' addresses. But Luciel was a talented hacker, and she found nothing on V, strangely, not even his real name. It was almost as if he never existed.

Four addresses would have to do.

The laptop on the coffee table was off, and her phone was right next to it, constantly vibrating. Something was going on in the RFA chat. She was almost certain of it, but she didn't want to worry about that until later.

She rolled over, her back on the seat of the couch, and her ponytail dangling off of it. Her left arm didn't want to move after being relieved of the weight, so her right arm was holding her book above her head, trying not to drop it onto her face.

 _Kim Yoosung. 20 years old. SKY University, dorm 482. March 12th, 1996._

 _Ryu Hyun. 23 years old. Confocius Plaza, apartment B42. April 1st, 1993._

 _Kang Jaehee. 25 years old. Bukan Apartments, apartment 294. December 28th, 1991._

 _Han Jumin. 26 years old. Fraiser Place Central, floor 32. October 5th, 1990._

 _Choi Luciel._

 _V._

There was more information below V's name, listing the members' blood types, their records, their history. She knew the information by heart. However, she continued to read them, over and over again, in hopes of distracting herself from her own thoughts.

 _Was this the right thing to do?_

 _Of course it is. Focus, Art. Learn more about Zen and how he ended up in his first musical at 16._

 _Something about this doesn't feel right._

 _Art, you must focus. Jumin Han received etiquette lessons from a teacher by the name of Park Min-jin._

 _Alright, alright, I'll focus. But I want an explanation later._

 _There is no explanation. Kim Yoosung was top of his class and graduated as valedictorian in high school._

 _There is no explanation?_

 _...Then why am I doing this?_

Although she was asking herself "why?" over and over again, her eyes stayed glued to the page. She had to do this. For the agents, all of whom were close to her, almost like family. That was her motivation. That was her coffee, her drug, to keep her moving. The agency was the reason why she wouldn't give up.

She put the book down for a while.

She closed her eyes, and relaxed all of her muscles, which she didn't realize were tense before. Her chest was moving up and down, slowly, as she was taking one deep breath after another. She needed to calm down before her worries affected this mission. She needed to scold herself somehow, for becoming emotionally attached to the RFA although she was only here for less than a day. She felt her heart pound for some reason, although she wasn't to explain why.

Well, she wasn't able to explain anything today. Why her palms were sweaty the entire day, why she couldn't go to one of the members' homes and use them for her own benefit today. She wasn't able to explain why she wasn't able to do anything to help with the mission today other than the addresses.

The phone continued to vibrate. It was almost vibrating in a pattern now, and it didn't seem to be slowing down. She realized that it meant two things: something was going very well, or something was very, very wrong.

She opened her eyes and took a look at the white ceiling. She took one last deep breath before sitting up, her ponytail messier than it usually was, and picked up the phone, placing the book on the coffee table.

 **Art has entered the chatroom.**

 **707** : What?!

 **Jumin Han** : I know. It is shocking.

"It is shocking." What was shocking? Why was Luciel screaming in the middle of the chat, and why was Jumin, who seemed like an emotionless man to her, shocked? This chat was heading towards the "something was very wrong" side of the spectrum.

 **Art** : What is?

 **Yoosung** : Oh, Art, you're here!

 **707** : Art!

 **Zen** : Hey Art!

 **Jumin Han** : Hello, Art.

Jaehee wasn't in this chat. Was she working? Was Jumin taking a break while giving her more work? The more she thought about it, the more pity she felt for Jaehee. She had so much to do, and her boss, well, her boss was an emotionless robot to her. There's no way he would give her a break.

 **Art** : Hello!

 **Art** : Where's Jaehee?

 **Jumin Han** : Assistant Kang is contacting the bodyguards.

Her questions were all answered.

 **Art** : Why?

 **707** : Jumin called the security company to send people to Jaehee's, Yoosung's, and Zen's homes

 **707** : But they aren't showing up T_T

 **Yoosung** : It's been three hours;;;

 **Zen** : Your bodyguards are clearly very reliable...

 **Jumin Han** : Not anymore. They were reliable.

 **Zen** : ...I was being sarcastic.

So something was very, very wrong.

 **Art** : That's concerning...

 **707** : What company are they from?

 **707** : I'm going to try to do a search.

 **Jumin Han** : They're part of TKD Security.

 **Art** : TKD? Damn.

 **Art** : Don't they have a website?

She clearly remembered the website and reading all the information on it in order to prepare for a certain mission. It was a company filled with trained bodyguards, and they prided themselves on the fact that all of their guards had fast reflexes and were trained to withstand different harsh conditions. She found their bragging annoying to read.

 **707** : Oh yea! They do

 **707** : I need to check it out... see if anything can help...

 **Yoosung** : LOLOL round is starting!

 **Yoosung** : Good luck, Seven.

 **Yoosung has left the chatroom.**

 **Zen** : And there he goes.

 **Zen** : I'm going for a run. I need to clear my mind.

 **Zen has left the chatroom.**

 **707** : Zen, I think that's a bad idea...

 **707** : But he left already T_T

 **Jumin Han** : Have you found anything yet?

There was just a little bit of silence as, Art assumed, Luciel was checking their website. She was about to pick up her notebook again, expecting Luciel to suddenly send RFA a full analysis of the website, but the phone vibrated as soon as she touched the book.

 **707** : The website's down.

 **Art** : What? That's unusual... TKD has a well managed website...

 **707** : I know...

 **707** : The screen looks different from the usual "The website's down!" screen, too...

Luciel sent a photo over.

Art tapped the photo, enlarging it. It looked familiar to her, but she knew it wasn't anyone from the agency doing this work.

The photo he sent had a black background, but the page was filled with lines of green text. The font was familiar. The size of the text was familiar. She tried scanning the lines of code, but there was little information on the hacker other than "minteye".

Mint eyes? What?

She returned to the chatroom, realizing who the person who took down the website could be.

It was probably Unknown.

The hacker that gave her information on Luciel was against RFA itself. If he was part of the organization that hired ANY to eliminate him, then that would explain why he was doing everything. Why he was texting Luciel threatening messages. Why he (probably) shut down the website.

But the mint eyes... what? She didn't understand that part. Did he have mint eyes? Did he have a fascination with mint eyes? She opened Poogle quickly and searched up "Mint eyes", but all she ended up with were photos of people with mint-colored eyes which were probably contacts. She needed more information. What the hell did Unknown mean?

 **Art** : That's strange.

 **Jumin Han** : It is indeed.

 **707** : Do you think Unknown did this?

Art clicked her tongue. Luciel was quite intelligent. Like Art, he made the connection between the texts he received and the website, as well as the connection between the threats and the bodyguards. However, although they were texting, she could hear the slight panic in his voice.

 **Art** : It's possible. I mean, it looks like the same green text Unknown used.

 **707** : There are so many defenses;; I want to see exactly what happened to the website...

 **Art** : Aw...

 **707** : It's going to take some time to get through them, but even when I do, I don't think it'll be possible to tell who the hacker is if they're really good T_T

 **Jumin Han** : I cannot understand what you are talking about.

Right. Jumin never messaged Unknown, or, well, it would be more correct to say that Unknown never messaged Jumin. He was clueless in this situation and couldn't exactly provide much information to help, other than the bodyguard company name.

 **Jumin Han** : Therefore, I will go. I must ask Assistant Kang to see how she is doing.

 **Jumin Han has left the chatroom.**

Art could hear the deep, emotionless voice of Jumin Han saying the statement. It was hard to imagine him worried, considering how he always seemed so calm. How his emotions always seemed so bottled up. She had to ask him how he did it someday. It would come in handy, especially in missions like this.

It was just Luciel and her in the chatroom.

And this time, she promised to focus.

 **707** : If it is Unknown, why is he targeting us? I don't understand.

 **Art** : I don't either...

She felt herself slipping just slightly. For some reason, it was easy to catch herself when she was starting to let her emotions out through texts than on the phone. She shook her head again, feeling her head clear slightly. She needed to leave before the situation became worse.

 **Art** : I'm starting to get hungry;;;

 **707** : Didn't you buy groceries a while ago?

 **Art** : Didn't cook or eat anything yet.

 **Art** : I'll try the HBD and Dr. Pepper combination someday.

 **707** : Alright! Tell me how it goes!

 **Art has left the chatroom.**

She sighed, standing up. She didn't eat anything since she came back; she just threw the groceries into the fridge. She opened the door, covering the cold metal handle in her sweat, and walked into the kitchen, not even bothering to look or glance at the camera. She saw an apple on the table and grabbed it.

That should be enough for now.

She decided to stay in the kitchen to give Luciel the impression that she was cooking something, when in reality, she was just eating an apple. She bit into it, hearing the crunch, and felt the sweet juices fill her mouth. She began to chew it quickly, wanting some sort of distraction.

She leaned back against the counter, staring at the bright lights above her. There was slight pain before her eyes started to water, but she didn't exactly mind. Pain was a nice distraction. She bit another piece off of the apple.

Unknown.

There were so many things she wanted to know about him. What did he have against the RFA? And why was he going to such extremes to get rid of RFA? He, she assumed, hired ANY to get rid of Luciel. He, she knew, threatened Luciel with the safety of the members. And he, she also assumed, hacked the TKD website in order to...

She didn't know what. There was no way a hacked server would prevent the bodyguards from reaching the members.

The hacker was doing something else, or, specifically, he was endangering the bodyguards that were assigned to the members. How? She didn't know, although she wanted to know. She liked exact details, and having little to no information on what the hell happened led her to continuously search until she crashed, or something else.

She sighed.

She needed to know what he did.

After all, Unknown and her were allies, in a way.

They were both aiming to take down RFA in very different ways. One by destroying all the members of RFA, and the other by killing...

707.

707...

 _707..._

* * *

 _ **Seochan Road  
**_ _ **Underground, Level 1  
**_ _ **January 31st, 2017  
**_ _ **4:00 PM KST**_

"707."

The red haired man with bright yellow glasses turned around. flashing a wide smile. His hoodie was hanging from the back of his rolling chair, which was understandable, considering how he seemed to be drenched in sweat. The cross on his necklace was under his shirt, and stuck to his skin. His shirt was even stuck to the skin from all the sweat. However, he still managed a wide smile, although something about it revealed that maybe he wasn't as happy as he appeared to be.

His voice, however, was as sweet as honey when he replied. "Yes, Vanderwood?"

"Stop messing around. Did you finish your work yet? The deadline is tomorrow."

He was still keeping sweet voice, elongating every single word in the sentence. "Of course not. My house is a mess."

Vanderwood was standing against the door, arms crossed, his hair tied in a ponytail behind him because of the heat in the house. His jacket was off and hanging outside, and similar to Seven, he was covered in sweat. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was in a scowl. "That's your fault."

"Hmmmm?"

"It's your fault that you enjoy littering chip wrappers and soda cans everywhere."

It was true. While his walls were a bright red and his desk was fairly clean except for a full bag of Honey Buddha Chips, the floor was littered with empty chip bags, crumbs, and Dr. Pepper and everywhere. There were so many empty chip bags and empty soda cans that the room even started to smell like honey and soda.

"Chip wrappers? Don't you mean chip bags?" Maintaining his smile, he raised an eyebrow, his hands pulling the necklace off of his skin and fiddling with it.

"Chip wrappers, bags, whatever. The point is, you are not getting your work done. And in the agency, what that means is death!"

"I can't focus."

"The client won't care. You need to finish that assignment right now."

"No, I mean, look at the floor." He gestured to the floor and shook his head. "It's so dirty... it's making me hallucinate."

"Do not mess with me right now."

Seven leaned back in his chair and put a hand to forehand. His other hand was gripping his shirt. "Oh! Look at the door! I see a Vanderwood... and a gigantic chip right next to you!"

"Zero Seven."

He turned around and faked a scream. "The soda is coming to life! Dr. Pepper himself is about to destroy my precious computers!"

Vanderwood sighed and raised his voice when he said, "Fine! I'll clean your room. Get out of here."

Seven smiled again and walked out of his room. "Thanks."

It was still hot outside of his room, which he didn't exactly understand. Heat rises, right? And his house was designed so that there would be proper ventilation and air flow. He shook his head and sighed slightly. Maybe the builders made an error somewhere.

He sat on the couch, the grin from his face turning into a slight frown. His eyebrows were suddenly raised . Although this would be the perfect time to relax, he couldn't. He just sat straight up on the couch, still sweating. He had a few questions he wanted answered.

What the hell was "Unknown" doing?

First, the sudden introduction of Art. She didn't seem like a suspicious person, and V even told him that she was clean, but he couldn't find anything on her other than a social media account with absolutely no activity. She didn't have the same hair color, they wore very different clothing, it seemed, and the social media Art seemed to enjoy rainbow skirts and dresses compared to actual Art, who seemed to enjoy wearing black. He tried to convince himself that something was suspicious about Art, but it didn't work, especially after the phone calls and V's call. She seemed like a nice person, and she probably was.

This would have been enough for a day. But nooo, Unknown had other plans.

Then, the strange, threatening texts.

Why were the messages directed at _him_?

What was Magenta? After doing a quick search, nothing was found on it other than the fact that it was a color.

He was worried, however. He received the messages through the RFA app, which could only mean one thing: Unknown was still in the RFA chat. And he was probably not going to leave for a while.

Finally, the bodyguards never showed up. Was Unknown responsible for this, too? The website was down, and if he himself was responsible for the bodyguards never showing up, how would one hacker take down an entire professional bodyguard company? He didn't know the answer to that, and a part of him didn't want to know. Seven tried his best to bring the website back and to try to see exactly what happened, but he had to admit that the other hacker was just as good as him. It was hard to get through all of their defenses, and even after breaking every one of those defenses, he couldn't find anything. The hacker didn't leave a trace.

They even erased all the data from their website.

Seven didn't understand why. There was no point from erasing data from a company's website. It was barely connected to RFA - Jumin knew better than to tell them confidential information, and besides, Jumin didn't know much about the confidential information. So why? Why erase all the data from their website?

Why would they even target RFA?

He was more worried about Art than the rest of the RFA. They could be protected easily, since their addresses were known to each other. But Art... Rika's apartment address was supposed to be a secret, so the only person that could help her if she was in trouble was Seven. V was always busy, the others didn't know where the apartment was, and Seven had access to the CCTV cameras, too. His heartbeat quickened.

If she was in trouble and he couldn't get to her fast enough...

He heard some footsteps and the rustling of a plastic bag.

"Your room's clean. Go back to work."

He turned around, to see an even sweatier Vanderwood holding a bag filled with his empty chip bags and soda cans. He flashed a smile again as he stood up. "Alright!"

He walked into his room, feeling Vanderwood's eyes on him. As soon as he closed the door, he leaned against it, his smile gone, his eyes closed. He had to finish his work immediately.

But he wasn't in the mood to.

Since RFA was his family.

So if RFA was his family...

 _Art is also my family now._

He opened his eyes, his golden eyes reflecting the blue computer screens.

 _And I'm not going to let Unknown do anything to her._

* * *

 **Four chapters and a prologue in. That's the most dedication I've ever had in terms of writing fanfiction, haha.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the story! Thank you, and have a nice day!**

 **-Teri**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hello!**

 **I hope you don't mind that this was a chapter posted slightly later than usual... midterm week is over, so I intend on going back to a semi-normal schedule of updating within 3-5 days or so? I don't know. Something like that.**

 **Also, for once, the Art part is shorter than the [insert other character's name] part. I wanted to write more about one of my favorite OCs (haha they're all my favorite, what am I talking about?), so yeah.**

 **Thank you for your review, FlowOfEna! I'm glad you're excited!**

 **I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 5

 _ **Hyperial Tower  
**_ _ **Apartment 1429  
**_ _ **February 1st, 2017  
**_ _ **11:52 AM KST**_

 _It was snowing outside, in New York City, and a tiny figure was standing right in front of a building._

 _Thirteen year old Art was standing right outside of the agency doors, watching as the flurries slowly fluttered to the ground, piling on top of each other. The moon was supposed to be full tonight, but the clouds were covering the moon and the stars. She smiled slightly as a snowflake melted on her nose. Tonight was beautiful, with the warm lights from the lamp and the lights from the agency window._

 _The door behind her creaked open, and she felt an arm pull her back inside. She looked up with her wide eyes. She wasn't used to the surprises and the jump-scares (well, their intention wasn't to scare her, but still...) yet. It had only been a year since Tol found her and asked her to join ANY._

 _It was Eric. Tol's brother. His eyes were wide, with a sense of urgency, and his mouth was open. Unlike Eric now, he had much shorter hair, and no glasses or contacts at this time. He was also unwilling to torture himself with getting a dog and wearing white all the time, but he was breathing heavily, and his green eyes were red._

 _He was crying before._

 _"Art... Tol. He's gone." His voice had a hint of sadness in it, but it was mainly filled with worry._

 _She raised her voice, the pitch of it also skyrocketing. "Gone? What do you mean, gone?"_

 _"No idea. I assume it was Ploem who took him, but..."_

 _She raised an eyebrow. "But what?"_

 _"You're the best tracker we've seen so far. And he let you know every last detail about his mission. We need you, Art..."_

 _Eric paused slightly before adding his last two statements. " **I** need you, Art. I can't lose my brother again."_

Art was sleeping on Rika's bed, her hair tangled in a mess behind her, but she didn't care. She was curled up in her blanket, but she was constantly moving around because of this nightmare... Her first official field mission was to save another agent. She remembered feeling fear. That was all she felt. No excitement, just fear.

Her phone, which was on the drawer right next to her, started to vibrate in a pattern. The screen flicked open to show a name and a profile photo.

The photo was of a certain red haired man with gold eyes, and it seemed to be a selfie of him standing by a car. His smile was big and wide, his necklace shimmering from the light, and his sweater was off (for once), revealing his bright red shirt. The name read, "707".

Art opened her eyes, her heart pounding, her eyes wide and watery. She slowly sat up, picking up her phone without looking at the contact.

"Hello?" She wiped the tears from her eyes.

 _"Someone's tired today! Good morning and almost afternoon, Art!"_

Oh.

It was Luciel. Art continued to lay in bed, wondering about one thing he said.

 _What did he mean by almost afternoon?_ _Shoot... what time is it?_

She glanced at the digital clock on the drawer and sat straight up, throwing the covers off. It was already almost 12?

She had been asleep for 15 hours?

"Oh, haha, hello Seven!"

 _"Hello, Sleeping Beauty!"_

"Is anything wrong? Or... are you just calling me...?" She walked to her suitcase and pulled out a change of clothing. A black t-shirt with jeans. Black jeans, to be exact. Her favorite.

 _"Oh, yes! Emergency! Emergency! Very big emergency!"_ He was laughing slightly while saying this.

"Oh no!" she replied, smiling in response. She sat back down on the bed and continued speaking. "What happened to God Seven?"

 _"I can't find my Honey Buddha Chips!"_

She faked a gasp. "No! A tragedy!"

 _"A tragedy indeed! I can only think of one person who took them..."_

She smiled even wider, her free hand playing around with the tank top she slept in. Her smile faded, when remembering her own promise to focus and to stop feeling joy for Luciel and RFA. There was silence on the phone, as Luciel was waiting for a response.

She cleared her throat and tried her best to continue sounding cheerful, while faking worry. "Who?"

 _"Vanderwood, of course! Ms. Mary Vanderwood 3rd!"_ He screamed the last sentence, and Art heard footsteps in the background, followed by a voice. She couldn't exactly tell what they were saying, however, but she could infer based on Luciel's statements.

Vanderwood... that name was familiar.

 _"No, I didn't finish my work yet, but I think you took my chips."_

Vanderwood... that name was awfully familiar. Why was it...?

Art pulled her phone away from her ear, wincing, when a very masculine, slightly deep voice started to scream something about work and clients. She put the phone back to her ear, lowering the volume so that she could still hear, but her eardrum wouldn't burst.

 _"Your chips? The work is due today, Zero Seven! If you don't finish it, we're dead! All of us!"_

 _"Can't we get an extension?"_

 _"An extension? This is **our last extension**."_

She felt chills going down her back. Seven was in a situation similar to her, except... well, except, she didn't have an extension. Nor would she ever get one, it seemed.

Mary Vanderwood 3rd... that was just a fake name, right? Because this person didn't sound like a Ms... nor did he sound like a Mary. But Vanderwood did sound familiar, and his voice did too. Considering how he was talking about work and the agen-

 _Wait..._

She widened her eyes slightly.

She knew exactly who Vanderwood was. And he knew exactly who she was. Luckily, he knew her by agent number and not her nickname, but it was possible that he caught word of her nickname at some point. After all, he enjoyed learning more and more about the agents. For what reason, she didn't know, but she was impressed that he could easily remember every single number of the agents he talked to.

An extension... Luciel was really slacking off, right? But why? She knew the deadliness of not completing a mission, considering how her "friends" all disappeared after failing a mission. She sighed slightly. She didn't want to fail this mission.

She'd also seen firsthand what could happen if you failed. It wasn't pretty. She remembered seeing nothing but crimson red covering the agent's body.

She was glad she had some sort of role in helping them, and that the employers never knew that they were from ANY. Otherwise, it would have been quite bad for all of the agents, although only her and Eric were involved.

She returned her attention back to the phone.

 _"Fine, fine, I'll do the work."_

 _"Do you need me to sit next to you and watch you type? Because I'm not leaving until you put the phone down and start."_

 _"Hm, alright. Hold on. Get out."_

 _"Why are you telling me to leave?"_

Art heard the creaking of a chair, and then a few mutters, followed by footsteps and the click of the door. There was a little bit of silence before Luciel suddenly gasped slightly. _"Oh, Art! I nearly forgot I left you on the phone. I'm so sorry, that was Vanderwood. My... maid."_

"A maid."

 _"Yes. Looks feminine, but sounds masculine. Reminds me to do my work all the time."_

"Did she take your Honey Buddha Chips, then? We can't have that happening!"

Luciel let out a laugh, before taking a deep breath. _"Of course not! Luckily, she didn't. My precious chips have just run away! A tragedy!"_

"Noooo!"

 _"I have to go and work - I hear Vanderwood coming! Stay safe!"_

"I will; you too!"

 _Click_.

She wasn't exactly sure if she was hallucinating, but she could have sworn that before he hung up, she heard the sound of something electrical and the door opening.

She stood up and started to walk to the bathroom, taking her clothes with her, the floor creaking just slightly. She didn't realize that she was biting her cheek until the metallic taste of blood was all she had in her mouth. She winced slightly. She didn't want to start developing the habit of biting her own cheek. But she was still shaking from the dream (although it was more like a nightmare) she had. Tol. She wondered how he was doing now.

But Vanderwood... He worked with Luciel? She raised an eyebrow. That made her mission a lot harder. If Vanderwood was always with Luciel and always reminded him to work, then she couldn't go straight to his house, although she didn't have her address in the first place. She sighed. She would probably need to get rid of Vanderwood too if he saw her.

Unfortunate.

This mission was starting to become even more complicated than it already was.

* * *

 _ **Agency of New York Headquarters  
**_ _ **Room 662 - Office of Eric Young  
**_ _ **January 31st, 2017  
**_ _ **9:42 PM EST**_

The room was once filled again with the sound of typing, and the occasional click of a mouse. Eric was back in his seat, his emerald eyes not as bloodshot as it was before. He had his black-rimmed glasses instead of his contacts on, since he decided to take a break from shoving little clear lenses into his eyes. Occasionally, he'd stop typing, smile just slightly, and run his hand through his black hair (which he wanted to cut since it was starting to cover his eyebrows and ears).

The lights were all on, which was unusual for him, especially during the nighttime. But now, anyone who walked in could actually see every little detail on his desk.

They would also be surprised.

There was something in his eyes that revealed that he was happy for once. They shimmered from the lights, as well as the computer screen, and his mouth was slightly curved into a small smile. His face was slightly pink instead of the pale color it used to be.

He decided to give himself a little break today - he would leave work at 11:00 PM, instead of 1:00 AM.

He decided to stop wearing white all the time, and although it took him a little bit of time, he managed to find a navy blue shirt. His favorite color.

He decided to take a little run around the nearby park, dragging a few other hackers (who didn't exercise much) with him. Something he typically didn't have time for. Well, he didn't have the time for a run today, but he didn't mind. He'd finish the work tomorrow. It wasn't much anyways, and the deadline was in three weeks. No big deal.

He glanced at the clock. It was 9:43 now, so the chatroom should be up in two minutes.

His smile became slightly wider, his eyes twinkling even more. Two minutes. Well, to be exact, one minute and fifty-one seconds. It was close enough, but specifics felt nice to him.

He knew he should have been more worried about Art, but he knew that she was probably doing fine. She was careful, but also careless. She put safety of everyone but herself first, then curiosity, then the mission. He shook his head, closing his eyes. That was dangerous. Worrying about safety and worrying about curiosity on its own was dangerous. He knew that she wasn't worried about her own safety.

But sometimes, that was less dangerous than worrying about others' safety.

However, he was certain that she knew what she was doing. He was relying on the fact that she had never failed, although she did make a lot of mistakes, but she always fixed them quickly. She enjoyed being fast, so if this mission went well, he should be receiving a call around tomorrow or so.

Then again, it was agent vs. agent. He couldn't promise himself that she would call him tomorrow.

His phone alarm suddenly rang. It was ridiculously loud, causing Eric to suddenly turn around to face his phone and quickly sliding the little bar to shut it off. He shook his head, smiling. It was time. It was 9:45 PM, on January 31st, 2017.

Which meant the chatroom was open. He opened a new tab and made sure that nobody would be able to know what he was doing. His fingers continued to type as fast as possible, determined to make sure that none of the other group bosses could see his search history or become suspicious of what he was doing at this time.

9:46 PM.

He finished. It was a relatively easy task to do, especially after he caught a hacker doing this to go on Footbook. He promised the hacker that he wouldn't be fired if he taught Eric how he hid his search history so well that even a trained agent couldn't find it.

He opened another tab, typing in a link, his fingers flying across the keyboard. It was a strange link, which he didn't mind much, since he was always able to remember it as soon as the new link showed up on the screen.

 _j192fdks2190cvd12923kj1lk23nl3kj12k3_

That was literally the website link. He didn't even need to type a domain extension at the end, since the other person in the chatroom made it so that all he had to do was type the long string of numbers and letters.

The chatroom suddenly showed up. The background was black, and there was a long bar at the top of the screen, revealing that one other person was in this chatroom. He nodded. This seemed normal. There were only three people that could be in this chatroom, and one of them, Art, was on her little mission.

At the bottom, there was a box for him to type something, as well as an array of emojis (Art's touch) and the ability to link photos. Eric and the other person never even touched the emoji bar. Neither did Art, but she enjoyed the color it added to the very dull, black and white screen.

A few words appeared right above the box.

 _Tol is typing..._

Tol's message suddenly appeared on the screen, considering how he was a ridiculously fast typer.

 **Tol** : Hey bro.

A profile picture appeared right next to his brother's message, revealing bright green eyes and black hair, just like Eric's. However, the tips of his hair were dyed a light blue, and he was flashing a bright smile in the photo, revealing his perfectly white teeth. While Eric warned him to not put a photo, Art ensured that the chatroom would be secure as long as Tol continued to manage the code of the chat. He also warned Tol to not put his actual first name, but he put it anyways.

After all, his brother was a troublemaker from the start.

And because of that, his brother was thought to be dead.

 **Cire** : Hello, how are you doing?

 **Tol** : You're always so formal, you know that? Haha.

 **Tol** : Why don't you call me "bro" for once? Or maybe 남동생, 弟弟, otōto, or hijo?

 **Tol** : It's always "hello" and nothing else.

 **Cire** : I'm afraid the agency's watching us.

 **Cire** : Also, do you know what hijo means?

 **Tol** : Relax... I'm managing the code, remember?

 **Tol** : And of course.

Eric could relax slightly after that... his brother was a talented hacker, as well as a mediocre field agent, so the fact that he was managing the code made him slightly more relaxed. He smiled just a bit more. He was going to type something, but it wouldn't be comfortable for him.

 **Cire** : Alright, alright. How r u, lil' bro?

 **Tol** : My brother is using text speak?! A shocker!

 **Cire** : Remind me to never do that again.

 **Tol** : Haha... I will not. Where's Art?

 **Cire** : Mission.

 **Tol** : Mission? Where?

 **Cire** : That, I can't exactly say.

 **Tol** : Why?

 **Cire** : It's hacker vs. agent.

 **Tol** : Ay. I understand.

 **Cire** : Anyways, how are you? I still want that question to be answered.

 **Tol** : With details or with little to no detail?

 **Cire** : I'm going to murder you if you do the latter.

 **Tol** : I've already been nearly murdered before, so I'll do the latter. I've been fine.

 **Cire** : That's true... you have.

 **Tol** : Remember the good old memories? When I nearly died and you and Art had to come for me?

Eric did, but he didn't want to remember the "good old memories." A shiver went down his spine. He remembered... everything. Every last detail, down to the opponents' faces to the layout of the prison to his brother, Tol, covered in blood...

 **Tol** : Regretted everything. But the person they sent me after? That was insane. He went into hiding as soon as he caught word of me coming.

 **Tol** : And then the person who employed me... God. He was so angry. He actually wanted me to die...

 **Cire** : I'd rather not mention that again.

 **Tol** : But look at the date.

 **Tol** : January 31st, 2017. It's the seven year anniversary of when you guys came.

He looked at the date again. Tol was right. It has been seven years... He was 20 and his brother was 18. Tol had just joined the agency and sent on his first mission, which he failed. Miserably. The target went into hiding, protected by hackers and guards who refused to speak no matter what his kind-hearted brother put them through (which wasn't much, Eric promised), and it was his, what, fifth extension? Both the head of the group and Tol went missing the day right after the extension, the head never to be seen again, but Tol...

 **Cire** : I'm glad Art found you.

 **Tol** : She was 13 back then? Damn talented for a middle schooler.

 **Cire** : Yeah, she was 13.

 **Tol** : I'm so glad I scouted her. Otherwise, the two of us wouldn't exactly be right here now, would we?

Eric shivered. He remembered his foolish self trying to break in and being cornered because of carelessness. He remembered feeling a wave of fear, followed by joy when he saw a tiny child shooting something.

A gun, to be exact.

He never asked the child, Art, where she found the gun, and he didn't even ask her how she learned to shoot a gun. He also never thought about how she managed to kill a group of ridiculously tall, strong people when she was nearly half of their size. Some things would probably be better if they stayed unknown.

 **Cire** : Yeah...

 **Tol** : I'm really glad. I hope she stays safe, because I wouldn't be able to deal with her departure.

 _Her departure_ _._ Eric knew exactly what Tol was saying, because he never enjoyed talking about dark topics. He always enjoyed disguising it with another phrase, or something of that sort. And he was certain that Tol knew exactly what he was saying as well.

 **Cire** : So do I.

 **Tol** : Moving on, are you seeing anybody yet?

 **Cire** : You always ask me this.

 **Tol** : Are you?

 **Cire** : You know it's against the agency rules.

 **Tol** : You're not answering my question, bro.

 **Cire** : I know I'm not.

 **Tol** : Dammit, just tell me!

 **Cire** : I'm not. I don't know if you know this, but the agency is 6AM-1AM.

 **Tol** : They extended the work hours?!

 **Cire** : Yeah, but nobody stays until that late. Except for the heads, because, well, position of leadership and stuff.

 **Tol** : That sucks.

 **Cire** : It's alright. I find it manageable.

Eric had something to say, and this was the reason why he was smiling the entire day. He spent the entire weekend going to websites like Dexpedia and Canoe, to try to find a plane to a specific destination.

 **Cire** : Oh, Tol?

 **Tol** : Yeah?

 **Cire** : I'm flying to where you are.

 **Tol** : What? For a mission or...?

 **Cire** : No.

 **Cire** : Tol, it's been seven years since we've seen each other, face to face. I'm arriving next week. February 7th.

 **Tol** : YOU'RE COMING TO TOKYO?!

 **Cire** : Shh. Yeah, I am. I can't wait to see you.

 **Tol** : Yes! Perfect! I miss you so much, you know that? You know my emergency number. It's probably stuck in your head somewhere.

It was.

 **Cire** : Alright. We should probably go now, it's been nearly fifteen minutes.

 **Tol** : Oh, alright! February 28th, same time?

 **Cire** : Got it.

 _Tol has disconnected._

 _One person left in the chatroom. Self-destructing in 5 seconds._

 _5... 4... 3... 2... 1..._

 _akdjf209u42oi3jklk1j9d0uf092u3lo191k_

Eric quickly glanced at it before the tab automatically closed. akdjf209u42oi3jklk1j9d0uf092u3lo191k. Easy. He smiled as he shut down the computer and put his jacket on.

He was going to see his brother.

For the first time in seven years.

He walked out of the door, pushing his glasses up.

 _Click_.

* * *

 **Long AN:**

 **Backgrounds, backgrounds. I love writing them, because you can make them so... interesting. :)**

 **ALSO, NEW OC (Tol Young)!**

 **I'M HYPED BECAUSE MIDTERMS ARE FINALLY OVER!**

 **So... a little bit of translation, with the help of Google Translate for the Korean and Japanese one...**

 **남동생, 弟弟, otōto - little brother  
** **hijo - son**

 **A bit more about Tol/Eric.**

 **I see them both as Korean. Why? I originally had their last names as Yong instead of Young, but I was working on it in the train and autocorrect did its magic. So yeah, Eric Yong became Eric Young, and Young had a nicer ring to it.**

 **(Also: "Very rarely, it may be a romanization of the Korean surnames Yong (용; 龍) or Yeong (영; 永/榮/影)" -Wikipedia [Haha... Unreliable Wikipedia as a source for a paper, but this is fanfiction])**

 **I won't tell you their actual Korean names yet, but just a little bit of information. :))**

 **Art is Chinese, and well, you also don't have to worry about her real name yet. :)))**

 **So yay! Information on characters and OCs!**

 **Finally, I want you to focus on this one sentence, especially the underlined/bolded word:**

 _"I need you, Art. I can't lose my brother **again.** " -Eric_

 **:))))**

 **I hope you didn't mind the chins on the smilies and stuff. Haha. This AN was fun to write. So was this chapter.**

 **Thank you again! Have a nice day!**

 **-Teri**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hello there!**

 **Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it! (新年快乐!)**

 **This is a slightly shorter chapter than I hoped for, but hopefully you guys don't mind.**

 **If you're genuinely curious and stuff, my profile has an OC thing, as well as a quote from the next chapter/what I'm trying to work on and stuff. Yay? I don't know. I try to update it as much as possible as well, especially with the quotes and the OCs, and also the spaceship.**

 **I've changed how the email system works here - instead of receiving the email right after the chatroom "closes," it's sort of more realistic? I think?**

 _ **Also, major, major spoiler alert!**_

 **Thanks! Let's start with a non-Art part first!**

 **-Teri**

* * *

Chapter 6

 _ **Hexington Avenue  
**_ _ **New York City, NY  
**_ _ **January 17th, 2017  
**_ _ **2:34 AM EST**_

 _"Oh, perfect, 727, you're here. But you're a minute early. Don't you like to be exact?"_

 _Eric stood in the middle of the dark basement, which was covered in spiderwebs and dust. The employer, Unknown, told him to not bring his phone, but also said that a candle would be helpful, and he saw exactly why. He couldn't see anything until he lit the candle, but even then, he couldn't see much. All he saw was a wooden table with two chairs in the center, and a figure on one of the chairs. He couldn't exactly see his eyes or hair though, although he was sure that this Unknown guy was wearing a mask. Was he armed? He wasn't sure about that. He did his best to not seem cold in the middle of the basement, and put his freezing cold hand (that wasn't holding the candle, of course) in his jacket pocket._

 _"I do," he replied, walking closer to the table, "but I decided to not be exact for today. You did say this was urgent, and that this meeting would take a long time. I'd rather this end fairly early, considering I have to get to work at 6."_

 _He heard the creaking of a chair, followed by the sound of the chair moving... farther away from him? Strange. Whoever this Unknown person was really wanted to be hidden. Eric decided to sit down in the wooden chair, which felt frozen to the touch and felt even colder than his numb hands. He set the candle on the table, expecting to see exactly what Unknown looked like, but with no avail. He did, however, see a glimpse of his face, and that was all he needed._

 _Unknown moved even further away from the candle._

 _Eric faked a warm smile. "Oh, Unknown, why don't you move a bit closer? I can't see you."_

 _"I'd rather not be seen. I can see you and that's all that matters."_

 _He continued to smile strangely. "Well, I suppose. But I'd like to see your white hair once more. Did you dye them at the tips? Also, your mint-colored eyes... they're interesting. Contacts? There was a little hint of gold at the corners of your irises. Is gold your natural eye color?"_

 _Silence._

 _"How-"_

 _"We're agents. It's natural to be curious. Now, let me see your face again. Take the mask off, as well as the voice modifier. You sound like you belong in some horror movie right now."_

 _His slunk down in his seat, his legs reaching for Unknown or his chair. His ankles found his chair, and he quickly wrapped his feet around the legs of it, pulling the chair towards the table. His long legs come in handy during moments like this._

 _"What-" Unknown was surprised when he heard the sound of a chair - his own chair - sliding, and was even more surprised when he found himself staring at a pair of cold emerald eyes. Emotionless. Shivers were sent down Unknown's spine, although he did his best to hide it. He scoffed slightly and added, "I'm probably going to regret contacting you over the other group heads."_

 _"I'm the nicest one."_

 _"Sure." Mint eyes met emerald eyes, both glaring at each other. Unknown reached for his mask and pulled it off, his voice returning to normal. "Are you happy now?"_

 _"Of course I am. Also, I recommend you read our manual more carefully next time. We're required to see faces and hear actual voices before we accept your mission."_

 _Unknown smirked. "Who said I had the time to read?"_

 _"I assume you do, since you're sitting here, talking about random topics to me."_

 _"You're still a pretty talented field agent for being a group leader."_

 _"Of course. Once you become a field agent, that part of you never disappears. Now, where's the information?"_

 _He glared at the black-haired man. "Fine. Here you go. Take the file." He pulled out a folder from under his jacket and slid it to him. Eric gingerly picked it up and began looking through it, occasionally raising his eyebrows and muttering to himself._

 _"Your target is Sa- Luciel Choi." His little slip caused Eric to look up at him suspiciously, but he returned to the file right after Unknown looked away. "21 years old. Agent for the Seoul-"_

 _"Protection Agency?" Eric interrupted, meeting his eyes again. "This sounds fun."_

 _"It is fun." Unknown didn't realize that Eric was speaking sarcastically, until the agent looked at him with a strange look. "He's a talented hacker."_

 _"I know he is. Wasn't he the one who destroyed the files on SPA suspicions and conspiracy theories? From the BA database?"_

 _He nodded in response. "Yes. He is. He's dangerous if you try to engage with him in a hacking battle, but he's pretty weak in real life."_

 _There was something in Unknown's voice that made Eric look up, eyes narrowed slightly. He opened his mouth and took a small breath before asking, "Why do you want him gone?"_

 _More silence._

 _Unknown hesitated before replying, "It's just this thing that I have against him. No worries."_

 _Eric raised an eyebrow and paused slightly. He then said, "You two have the exact same facial structure. Twins?"_

 _Even more silence._

 _Unknown was starting to resent this man._

 _He was glad that Eric had something to say, because he closed the file and said, "Alright. I see. Private business that I shouldn't ask about."_

 _"You have a brother too, don't you?" the hacker blurted out. He did some research about this "Eric" guy. He knew a lot about him. W_ _ell, actually, "a lot" was an understatement. He knew every last detail of the missions he went on before he gained a leadership position._

 _He froze, but his face was emotionless when he replied, "I do. Why do you ask?"_

 _"He's dead, isn't he?"_

 _Silence._

 _Eric sighed slightly. Of course. Unknown was, according to his hackers, a professional hacker. Of course he would try to find as much information as possible._

 _He started to wonder,_ Is the ANY database really safe? Does he know about the chatroom...?

 _In the end, he almost smiled slightly, realizing that, well, Unknown didn't know that his brother was still alive and well in Tokyo._ _He tried his best to remain emotionless about the topic, which was easy once he realized that his brother was nearly 7,000 miles away._

 _"He is."_

 _"How did it feel?"_

 _"Terrible."_

 _Unknown smiled. One-word answers. The same emotionless, cold face, although it was clear that he was hiding something behind it. He found his weak point._

 _Or so he thought._

 _"I see."_

 _"Hm... Unknown?"_

 _"What is it?"_

 _"If you want to play this game, I can too."_

 _Huh? Unknown sat there, his smile fading. What did he mean?_

 _"Unfortunate how your father tried to hide you and Saeyoung away. And he's running for prime minister now? Tsk tsk."_

 _He felt the sweat freeze as it traveled down his back. "How do you-"_

 _"If you want to play this game... I can too."_

 _That was all he said, but he said it slower than the first time he did, sending more chills down Unknown's back. Maybe this was a really bad idea, contacting a group of professional agents to deal with Luciel._

 _"Your mother's dead. How do you feel?"_

 _"Great."_

 _Eric smiled, his eyes still blank. "I see. Don't love her, do you?"_

 _"I don't."_

 _"Saeran and Saeyoung. What pretty names. Unfortunate that you were stuck with parents that didn't care about you two."_

 _"Will you_ shut up?! _" Unknown snapped, standing up, his hand reaching for his gun, but constantly missing. The chair scraped across the concrete floor, creating a strange, but loud, noise. He intended for this to scare Eric, but he ended up sitting there, his emerald eyes still continuously sending chills down his back. He shivered slightly, trying to hide it. Messing with this group was a terrible idea._

 _"I'm surprised. You chose ANY, us, to eliminate him. Why?" His voice was still calm and collected._

 _"I refuse to answer any more of your stupid questions."_

 _"You have fire over here. This file could burn up in flames in seconds. Why?"_

 _At this point, Unknown was seriously thinking about letting Eric burn the file. He was holding the file above the candle flame, his eyes still emotionless, reminding him of the RFA member, Jumin Han. Both of them seemed ridiculously similar, although Eric was more about going straight to the "let's destroy this person's mental health" part of a conversation._

 _"I know you have relations with SPA, which isn't very good." He wasn't sure why he was saying that, but the words just flew out of his mouth. "But I also know that you and your group have the highest rates of success out of all the organizations in the world. I'm relying on you and your little group."_

 _He moved the file away from the flames, standing up. "Alright. You want this finished by February 3rd? That's not much time."_

 _"I know it isn't. I'll try to give the agent a little help if I can."_

 _Eric walked closer to the door. "It was nice talking to you, Saeran Choi."_

 _"It wasn't nice talking to you, Eric Young." Eric paused right in front of the door._

 _He continued to face the door when he said, "I thought you were a professional hacker. What a shame that you couldn't even find my real name."_

 _He clicked his tongue and walked out of the door, leaving the candle on the table. The chilly winter breeze from outside sent even more chills down Unknown's back, and blew the candle out, plunging him into darkness._

 _It was alright. He was used to darkness._

 _He sighed slightly. What was his real name? He'd like to find out, but that'd probably be a side project. He was still mainly focused on taking down RFA. It was also surprising how Eric knew so much about his personal life. It was quite shocking, especially since he never expected him to turn the tide on him._

 _He sighed, still shaking. He was genuinely afraid, although at the same time, he was excited._

 _He took his contacts out, revealing two golden irises,_ _which were always hidden behind mint contacts._

 _He was smiling slightly._

 _Luciel Choi was going to die if all went well._

* * *

 _ **Hyperial Tower  
**_ _ **Apartment 1429  
**_ _ **February 1st, 2017  
**_ _ **1:39 PM KST**_

Art was sitting in the middle of the couch, a boiled egg with a bite taken out of it in her hand. Her hair was tied into a low ponytail, which was under her shirt. It was uncomfortable, but that was alright. She didn't want to waste time fixing it. Her agent notebook was placed right on her black pants, and her feet were covered with white socks covered in banana cartoons.

She continued to flip the pages, switching between the notes she took on the members.

 _Kim Yoosung._

 _How do I take advantage of him?_

She figured he would be the easiest to use, since, well, he was a college student. He was a normal person. He didn't have guards or anything who would always be with him. Besides, if she remembered correctly, he didn't seem to have class this week. That made things a lot easier - he was probably always in his apartment. She didn't need to take him out in the middle of a lecture hall. Also, he seemed fairly close with Luciel.

Then again, everyone seemed close with Luciel. Except for Art, of course.

The real problem was how she would do it. There were quite a lot of possibilities, all of them ranging from decent to absolutely ridiculous, and she'd rather stick with the decent ideas. The thing was, there were only two decent ideas, and they weren't even very decent.

She quickly flipped to the page on the notebook with her ideas. It was covered in messy handwriting, but also scribbles and X's that covered her ideas. She sighed and shook her head. She wasn't going to get anywhere if she never approved of her own ideas.

She also wasn't going to get anywhere if she ran in without a plan.

Typically, she would be satisfied with any of these plans, since her target was usually absolutely clueless and wasn't part of an agency. But this time, she was stuck with Luciel as her target. He was clever and talented, so it would be much, much harder than the typical target.

She read the final two plans over and over again, before picking up a nearby pen and scribbling one out with its blue ink.

 _I don't like both plans._

 _But this is better._

Her final plan was just a single word, written sloppily, and the word wasn't even written on the line, which she didn't really mind at this point. _Hostage._

She continued to sit on the couch, occasionally wiping her hands on it as well. They were sweaty, but also cold as ice at the same time, which she thought was strange. This had never happened to her before, and she knew she wasn't sick, because she felt perfectly fine. Her throat was normal, her nose wasn't stuffed, her head was perfectly fine, and everything else but her hands were normal.

She looked at her notebook once more, before reaching for her own and scribbling the "best plan" out. She glared at her notebook.

Now she had no plans for Yoosung.

And she definitely didn't have plans for the other members.

She felt the couch vibrate slightly, and turned, only to realize that her phone was on the couch. She picked it up and quickly opened the RFA app to see what was going on, sighing and leaning back on the couch.

 **Art has entered the chatroom.**

 **Jaehee Kang** : Mr. Han?

 **Zen** : What's wrong, Jaehee?

 **Jaehee Kang** : He has a meeting in fifteen minutes. He cannot be late for this one, since Mr. Chairman is also attending it since it's with a large company.

 **Zen** : Large?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Yes. Tarasunic Corporation. Largest technology company in Japan.

 **Zen** : I'm impressed... I hope trust fund kid doesn't miss this meeting. I already feel bad for the amount of work he's putting on you...

 **Zen** : That jerk...

 **Art** : Tarasunic? Wow!

 **Zen** : Oh, hello, babe!

 _Babe?_ Art sat there for a moment, reading the message over and over again. Did Zen really just call her that? She scoffed slightly and shook her head. _Oh, Zen..._

 **Jaehee Kang** : Hello, Art.

 **Art** : Hello Zen, Jaehee! Tarasunic...

 **Art** : I hope Jumin doesn't miss that meeting.

 **Art** : The most recent model they proposed? The BY1329? That's going to be stellar, with the updated camera and screen.

She loved catching up with Tarasunic news. It allowed for her to read more about technology, which happened to be her one and only obsession. She didn't like art ( _Ho_ _w hilarious_ , she thought), nor did she like music or games. She loved science and technology and that was it.

 **Zen** : Technology fan? You're just like Seven.

 **Jaehee Kang** : That's true. You sound just like Luciel.

Art froze right there.

Were they serious? She sounded like Luciel, of all people? She shook her head even more. She was trying her best to feel discontent towards Luciel but all she was feeling now was joy. She wasn't sure why, but she hoped that her joy wouldn't get in the way of the mission. She looked at the photograph on the wall, taking a deep breath to calm herself down, before returning to the chatroom.

 **Art** : Do I?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Yes, you do.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Anyways, why don't we invite them to the party?

 **Zen** : Oh! The party... that would be a good idea.

She remembered the RFA members talking about a party, and how this app gave her the ability to send emails as well. She smiled. Tarasunic. If she sent an email to them...

 _Doesn't Tol work there?_

 _I think he does. If he comes to the party... or if I end up contacting him..._

 **Art** : Of course. Tell them to contact me.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Alright. Expect an email at around 2:30 or so. I can only talk to them about the party after the meeting.

 **Jaehee Kang** : I hope you don't mind.

 **Art** : I understand.

 **Zen** : I'm going to go work out now.

 **Zen** : Jaehee, I wish you luck with the cat loving freak.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Thank you. Have fun.

 **Art** : Good luck, Zen!

 **Zen** : Thank you!

 **Zen has left the chatroom.**

 **Jaehee Kang** : I hope he sends a selfie...

 **Art:** A selfie?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Yes! A selfie of his workout...

 **Jaehee Kang** : The beads of sweat slowly rolling down his body...

 **Jaehee** **Kang** : His muscular arms, a wet towel draped over them...

 **Art** : Jaehee?

 **Jaehee Kang** : His snowy white hair, in his beautiful ponytail...

 **Art** : Uh... Jaehee, are you okay?

 **Jaehee Kang** : And his eyes... those beautiful red irises...

 **Art** : JAEHEE.

 **Jaehee Kang** : ...

 **Jaehee** **Kang** : The meeting starts soon and luckily, Mr. Han has just arrived.

 **Jaehee Kang** : It was nice talking to you, Art.

 **Jaehee Kang** : Excuse me.

 **Jaehee Kang has left the chatroom.**

 **Art has left the chatroom.**

She was still on the couch, a wide smile on her face. It, however, slowly faded away to a semi-frown as she returned to her notebook. Should she give up on Yoosung and move on to Zen? Jaehee? Jumin? She flipped to the next page, which had "Zen" written in large, messy script at the top of the page, and a little bit of information right below it.

All the musicals he participated in.

All the jobs that he turned down.

The names of all of his directors, producers, cast members, etc.

His family members' names.

Something felt very wrong about the information.

She grimaced, picked up her pen, and began to plan.

Something still felt very wrong about writing her plans down. She glared at her own notebook, and felt her hand moving her pen so that it started to cross out all information on Zen.

She flipped the page and crossed out everything on Yoosung.

Then Jaehee.

Then Jumin.

She nearly screamed in frustration, because she wasn't going to get anywhere if she continued to do this.

Her agency would be upset at her if she failed this mission, and would consider her a terrible agent. She was taking deep breaths, shaking slightly from anger, but also fear of being a failure to her agency.

A terrible agent.

 _But would I rather be a great agent, or a great person?_

 _Because I can't be both at the same time._


	8. Chapter 7

**Hello!**

 **Thank you, supermaneuver, for your review! I'm glad you like Art and Eric, as well as the concept of the story! Thank you!**

 **I want to say that I appreciate all of your reviews, follows, favorites, etc. They motivate me to write more, and I genuinely appreciate all of them! Thank you. Thank you so much for supporting this story!**

 **(If any of you get the hotel name location reference, thank you, too.**

 **Speaking of that, the word "Tamadra" does not belong to me. It belongs to GungHo Online Entertainment.)**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 7

 _ **Tamadra Hotel Seoul  
Room 480  
February 1st, 2017  
2:35 PM KST**_

 _"Oh, hello. Your name is Jaehee Kang, right? Assistant of Jumin Han?"_

 _"You are correct. Thank you for remembering."_

 _"No worries. I enjoy remembering names."_

 _That wasn't very far from the truth for Tol. He was a software engineer, but he was also in charge of communications and relations with other companies. He was lucky he found C &R International, since he believed that if he did a good job with convincing them, they would be funded for their new project, which one of his coworkers created. _

_Unfortunate that his coworker was sick, so he had to come in his place._

 _He hoped he managed to convince them well. He hoped that his smile and his words were enough to persuade C &R into funding their project. His palms were sweaty throughout the entire presentation, since he was standing right in front of two important people. The CEO of C&R, and then his son. Both of them were right there! Both of them were analyzing the project to see if it would be useful for them in any way._

 _Tol himself could sense his own boss tense throughout the entire presentation. While he did jump in two or three times to add additional information (mixed in with compliments for those two), he knew that his boss was too nervous to talk more, afraid that he would say something wrong._

 _In the middle of the presentation, he saw that the son was starting to look very bored, so he pulled out a model of the laptop and handed it to him, explaining that it was a test product, but it was already working better than the average laptop. He regained interest and said something along the lines of, "Impressive. I like this." His sharp, cold, emotionless grey eyes shimmered, too, which Tol believed was a good thing._

 _He was packing up the laptop used to display the presentation about the new device they were planning to make, and the Director's assistant decided to walk up to him. He was a little unsure about what she wanted to ask him, but masked it with a warm smile._

 _He was lucky it wasn't bad news._

 _As soon as she said, "I was wondering if your company would like to attend a charity party," he felt all of his fears disappear._

 _She handed him a business card, a small smile on her face. He carefully took the card and glanced at it._

 _It was a simple business card. It was white, with two lines of text on it and a logo, which he liked. It was simple. It was almost blank. It gave him some space to write on it if he wanted more information on this charity party._

 _He also liked it because he knew that Art would love this simple card._

 _Tol pocketed the business card in his suit jacket, which he found uncomfortable. The collar was scratching his neck, the tie felt as if it was suffocating him, and the shoes were ridiculously uncomfortable. The pants seemed to restrict his movement, as did the jacket, but he managed to keep a smile throughout the entire presentation._

 _His green eyes glittered as he zipped up the laptop bag._

 _"Please contact our party planner if you wish to attend. We cannot wait to see you there."_

 _Jaehee turned around, ready to walk out of the door. Her heels clicked against the floor._

 _"Thank you, Ms. Kang. I will think about it."_

 _She closed the door, leaving Tol and the CEO in the room._

 _Tol's boss glanced at him, before saying in rapid fast Japanese, "I'm going to go back to the hotel. Thank you, Tol. I think this will be a success."_

 _"No worries." Tol's smile grew as he ran a hand through his black hair. He was leaning on the table, but he didn't really mind. While he was 25 now, he was still similar to a child. "I think this will be, too. Rest, sir. You need it."_

 _His boss nodded before walking out of the room, leaving Tol inside, all by himself._

Tol was back in his hotel, his bag fully packed, ready for the flight tonight. However, his laptop was on the table, and he was sitting on the rolling chair, typing away. He had sent an email to the party planner just two minutes and three seconds ago, and he was now back to doing his usual antics, also known as his second job.

He ran a secret hacking office back in Japan, which happened to be useful for all the private investigators who wanted him to uncover some drug dealers or something similar to that. He managed his work and this office well, and had time for both his job and his secret job. He made tons of money from these two jobs, but lived in a mediocre apartment in the middle of Tokyo, since he didn't want to live in a gigantic, grand mansion.

He preferred a simple place.

He decided to open the hacking business, nearly four years ago, after he realized that he missed his original job, a hacker for ANY. While he didn't want to get involved with field agents anymore, he realized that he was talented at hacking and wanted to continue doing it.

Now, he was known as one of the best secret hackers of Japan, and he was amazed that only investigators and police asked him for his help. He expected more jobs from evil people, people who would be willing to kill him if he didn't do his job.

He shivered. He was lucky already, that he was working for people that he thought were kind and caring.

He pulled out the business card, taking a look over it again. He still loved the design. Whoever designed the RFA logo and the card were talented at putting all the necessary information on the business card, but yet, not making it too cluttered.

His Pmail tab made a loud notification, alerting Tol that someone had emailed him. His green eyes automatically brightened. Was this about the party? He tried his best to blow his bangs out of his face, but it only made things worse. Now, his entire vision was covered in black and light blue hair.

He used his hand to brush it away and took a look at the email. He was never given a name, so he was curious to know who it was. Maybe even do a background check on them, since he couldn't find much on RFA charity parties for some reason.

 _Click_.

 _"Hello, Mr. Young,_

 _It is a pleasure to contact you..."_

Tol raised an eyebrow. He could have sworn he heard that sentence somewhere. Someone's voice was playing in his head, over and over again, too, saying this line. He shook his head and returned to reading the email. He was just being paranoid. This couldn't be somebody he knew, since he didn't know anyone from Korea.

 _"...about the RFA charity party. I am glad you are interested about it. The purpose of this charity party is that anyone can donate, regardless of race, class, gender, and much, much more. It is meant to make all people happy."_

That struck a chord in Tol. He was suddenly interested, since his goal in life was to make people happy. He knew that wasn't exactly possible, and that there would always be people unhappy about his decisions, but he tried to satisfy as many people as possible.

He was happy because of their happiness.

He was, however, starting to narrow his eyes more and more. He was starting to feel suspicious over this party planner, because they seemed to know him very well. They seemed to know about Tol's desire to make as many people as happy as possible, and used it to make him come to the RFA party.

The beginning of the email was ridiculously similar, for some reason, although he couldn't connect it to anyone or anything yet...

 _"I have been interested in Tarasunic Corporation's technological advances for a very long time now. I hear that you are planning this new device, by the name of BY1329. Your updated camera, improved keyboard, and much more will definitely be useful for all."_

This party planner loved technology.

He was starting to connect these three points to a person. He started to widen his eyes, however. That wasn't possible. It couldn't be her. She was working at ANY, and she wasn't working for RFA. It couldn't be her. No way.

No. No. No.

It had to be somebody else just like her, right?

 _"I will contact you about the party date as soon as possible. Thank you for expressing interest in our party."_

 _"Stay safe, Tol._ "

 _"-Art"_

The last few sentences, followed by her signature. He sat up straight, his mouth slightly open from shock, and his eyes wider than they had ever been before. Art? She was working for the RFA party? But why? She was only in Seoul, he assumed, for a temporary mission, not for hosting parties and working for this permanent organization.

Maybe she was here because it was a disguise for her mission.

Yes, that would make sense.

But then again, maybe she was here because she was forced to do this after being found out. Found out that she was actually a secret agent.

That would make sense... sort of.

Tol started to type a response, his emerald eyes filled with concern and curiosity. He hoped the reason why she was working here was to disguise herself. It made sense that she didn't want to ask him personal questions about his life in Tokyo, since it was risky.

But the last sentence...

 _Stay safe._

She always ended her phone calls, texts, emails, everything like that. There was always something that expressed her concern over their safety. It was typical of her. She was always worried about safety of others, but never herself. It was strange, and it was against the agency rules, which required agents to worry about their own safety first.

He shook his head and shut down the laptop after sending his response. He reached for his phone, needing to contact someone.

 _"Hello Art,_

 _Thank you for your quick reply. The party definitely sounds interesting, since your goal is to make people happy with donations. The people giving the money and those receiving the donations will be proud and glad of what you are doing for the world._

 _Also, I realized I have never thanked you for before. I'm seven years late with this thank you._

 _So thank you. And you stay safe too._

 _Sincerely,  
Tol Young"_

* * *

 _ **C &R International Offices  
**_ _ **Room 2417 - Office of Jumin Han  
**_ _ **February 1st, 2017  
**_ _ **2:48 PM KST**_

Jumin Han was checking his emails, using his persuasion skills to convince people to sign the contracts that he sent them. His black hair was slightly disheveled, but it was also neat and styled, in its own special way. His stormy grey eyes were reflecting the screen of his computer, sharp and emotionless. His suit was tidy as always, and he decided to go for a red tie today. It stood out compared to his black jacket, his white shirt, and his black pants, although that wasn't exactly his intention. He just wanted a slight change.

The room was quiet, except for the click of the mouse and the sound of the keyboard. Occasionally, he'd even reach for the glass of wine, which was on the wooden desk, and take a sip of it.

Chateau Mirgaux.

His most expensive wine, but he needed it after the entire bodyguard situation yesterday, as well as the fact that his father was dating another woman who had fallen for Jumin instead. It was clear, considering how she always tried to talk to him, even when he was clearly busy, and hated Assistant Kang, since she thought that she only wanted the assistant position to get closer to Jumin.

He shook his head and took a sip of wine thinking about her. She wasn't getting on his nerves at all. He was used to this type of treatment. Women would fall for him and his father just because they wanted their money. They weren't serious about being involved in a relationship with them, but they were only looking after the money.

He was also glad that the meeting with Tarasunic ended fairly quickly. It was a short meeting - 45 minutes, compared to the typical one to two hour meeting. They talked about their new device, BY1329, if he remembered correctly, and wanted funding for it, in exchange for them helping promote one of C&R's projects. They signed contracts, and then everyone left except for the Tarasunic CEO and Assistant Kang. He caught word about the RFA party, but that was it.

He was fairly impressed by the people at the meeting. They talked about technology like it was their life (well, it sort of was), and they were able to break down their device so that everyone in the meeting could understand exactly what was the purpose of this new laptop. Jumin was asked to try out their model of the laptop, and although he was rarely impressed, he was amazed at how fast this laptop operated, and how smooth everything felt. The CEO was kind and offered Mr. Chairman himself a bottle of wine, and the person who explained a majority of the concepts, the software engineer...

He was kind too. He explained everything very well, and it was clear that he was genuinely interested in the development of the device because of the shimmer in his green eyes.

Jumin opened his next email and took a look at the contents. It was from Cherry Culture. A small group of ladies who were interested in opening stores all over Korea in order to spread the ideas of various cultures. They were very quiet and shy, but unlike the woman that his father was dating, they weren't after his money.

 _"Hello Mr. Han,_

 _Thank you for your kind response. I appreciate your gesture of donating to our company..."_

He scanned the email and started to type his reply, before he reached for his phone. Why not invite them to the RFA party? He unlocked his phone with the fingerprint scanner and opened the RFA Messenger app.

Art was on.

Luckily.

 **Jumin Han has entered the chatroom.**

 **Art** : Hello, Jumin!

 **Jumin Han** : Hello, Art.

 **Jumin Han** : I hope you're doing well.

 **Art** : I am, thank you! How was the meeting?

 **Jumin Han** : It went well. Thank you for asking.

 **Jumin Han** : I received an email from Cherry Culture.

 **Art** : Cherry Culture?

 **Jumin Han** : It is an organization dedicated to open stores of various cultures around Korea.

 **Jumin Han** : It is a small organization, but I believe it could be helpful.

 **Jumin Han** : What do you think?

 **Art** : I like it. Tell them to send me an email.

 **Jumin Han** : Thank you.

 **Jumin Han** : I must return to work now.

 **Jumin Han** : Goodbye.

 **Art** : Bye!

 **Jumin Han has left the chatroom.**

He finished typing his reply, giving Art's RFA email to them and asking them to contact her as soon as possible regarding the RFA party, which he described as "an elegant charity party where all people, regardless of race, age, gender, and more, are allowed to donate."

Next email, from Earth Environmental.

He began to read the contents when someone opened his door without knocking. He looked up, his grey eyes staring at the individual.

It was Assistant Kang.

"Assistant Kang, please knock before you enter."

"I apologize, Mr. Han. It was an urgent matter. TKD finally returned my calls."

He raised his eyebrow slightly and turned his chair so that he faced her. "What did they say?"

"They wouldn't say anything about the RFA situation. I tried asking them why they wouldn't send bodyguards, and they told me that it was a private matter, and, I quote, 'a pretty lady like you shouldn't get involved unless you wish to die.'"

Jumin faced his computer screen again, starting to type a new email for TKD. "That's very rude of them."

"That is. They also said, verbatim, 'Tell them to be careful before we come for them.'"

His hands froze on the keyboard, but he turned his head. "Did they really?"

"Yes, Mr. Han. They hung up when I tried to tell them to explain exactly what happened yesterday."

"Hm. Strange."

"It is."

He faced the computer again, while Jaehee continued to stand in the middle of the carpet, her clipboard in her hand and her hair neat as usual. There was a long silence as Jaehee started to look outside of the window, admiring all of the apartments and skyscrapers, not willing to leave until Jumin said that it was alright. After all, he was the boss, and she was just an assistant. She needed permission from him before she left, while he could do anything he wanted to.

Jumin opened his mouth, hesitating slightly before saying, "Assistant Kang."

"Yes?"

He turned to face Jaehee once more. "I will ask Driver Kim to bring you to your apartment as soon as possible. I want you to pack up all the items you need, because it will be safer for you to stay in my penthouse for now."

Jaehee stood up taller than usual, trying to hide her smile. She wasn't excited about going to Jumin's house, no. She was getting a short break from work, but this was already amazing. This was a rare treat. Her eyes were glittering when she said, "I will, Mr. Han. Aren't your guards at your penthouse from TKD as well?"

"They left this morning for some reason. Now they're from KF."

"I see." Jaehee started to back up slightly, eager to leave. "I will leave now."

Jumin nodded, starting to dial Driver Kim's number. "I will call you as soon as he is ready."

She opened the door and walked out of his office, her heels clicking in the hallway. She seemed to be walking faster, for some reason.

Jumin turned around and faced the windows. The glass was perfectly cleaned, since people were hired to clean it every night, and the curtains were against the walls of the office, white like the carpet. Sunlight was shining, illuminating his office and giving the glass a shimmering quality.

He sighed slightly. It seemed so bright outside, compared to the mood in his office right now. He wasn't feeling joy, but slight worry instead. This was new to him. He was rarely worried about something.

But this Unknown person was messing with them all.

And he hated it.

First he brought Art to Rika's apartment. That, Jumin didn't mind much. Art was kind, and V and Luciel deemed her trustworthy. Besides, Art was now in charge of the RFA party. While he wasn't sure how well she would do, he hoped that she would make this party as grand as it was in the past.

Then the threat. Jumin wasn't concerned. After all, he had his bodyguards ready to be sent to the members' homes.

But not anymore.

The entire TKD situation was a mess. Unknown had TKD, a popular, famous security company, on his side, ready to attack RFA if it was needed. For the first time in his life, he shivered from fear. TKD knew all of their addresses. That was dangerous. He didn't want to send KF to all of their addresses, since, well, if Unknown managed to have KF on his side as well...

He took a deep breath and regained his composure. He needed to stay calm, or else it would become worse. In... Out... In... Out...

 _Hide everything under that mask and never take it off._

He turned around and started to read his emails again, now that he was back to being himself.

 _"Hello Mr. Han!..."_

* * *

 **I should really stop with the ANs at some point, but anyways...**

 **I have updated some of the previous chapters so that some typos are removed, and there are less contradicting information. I realized that one mistake I made was when I said that Eric received his head position about six months ago, on his birthday, which meant that his birthday would be sometime around June-July.**

 **His birthday is in February, mind you.**

 **February 7th.**

 **There are quite a lot of contradictions too, so I decided to change some things slightly. I hope you don't mind.**

 **Also, I intend for Chapter 8 to come out soon - It's my birthday this week (I used to not believe myths about the "unlucky number" until this year turned out to be terrible, so yes, I'm excited for my birthday), so I just want to put Chapter 8 out there before the next chapter comes out twelve days later or something.**

 **Thank you!**

 **-Teri**


	9. Chapter 8

**I never thought I'd say this in a MysMe fanfiction, but...**

 **Major spoilers for _Macbeth_! Please be advised!**

* * *

Chapter 8

 _ **Hyperial Tower  
**_ _ **Apartment 1429  
**_ _ **February 1st, 2017  
**_ _ **5:04 PM KST**_

Art was back on the couch again, her laptop on the coffee table once more, trying to figure out one last idea before the deadline. She would have typically had an idea by this point, but for some reason, she didn't. She would have typically finished her mission by this point, but for some reason, she didn't. She would have felt nothing towards her target to make her job easier, but for some reason...

She didn't.

It wasn't the fact that she was feeling something towards her target that irked her. It was the fact that she couldn't do anything about her feelings this time.

She had Poogle Images open, hoping that photos of cats in coffee cups would help her in some way. She sighed slightly, tilting her head as she looked at this particular kitten. There was no point in looking for a new idea anyways. There was barely any time. And she couldn't do anything about that. She pressed an arrow key to move to the next image, which was just a cat tail sticking out of a tall mug. Smiling, she pressed the next arrow key. And the next. And the next.

Her smile wasn't exactly the joyful smile that one would have if they saw a cute kitten stuck in a small mug. It was the sad smile, knowing that she was wasting her time looking at kitten photos because she wasn't sure what her next move would be. She wasn't even sure if she would have the time to make the next move. She shook her head and returned to the kitten photos.

She continued to press the arrow keys until she decided that kitten photos weren't helping her at all. She sat up slightly straight, hearing her neck crack slightly, and hunched over the keyboard to type in another few words.

Before she pressed enter (she typed in "dogs rolling"), she heard her phone vibrate. It was a single vibration, which meant that nobody was calling her. It was probably a message from RFA. But which member?

She hoped it wasn't Luciel.

Her finger hovered over the Enter key, determined not to pick up the phone. Eventually, however, she turned around, giving a slightly frustrated sigh, and picked up her phone, which was right there, seemingly innocent, on the couch.

But she knew exactly what her phone was doing to her.

 **Art has entered the chatroom**.

 **707** : adf alwrjaiwcj2u192wefjkkd

 **707** : akjfc93u41p29u3kjfd;

 **707** : 92ujsgkaiwehak

 **707** : There's so much work T_T

Of course.

It had to be Luciel, of all the members. She didn't like how she decided to just hop in without checking the members in the current chatroom. But then again, Luciel's profile picture was just darkness, which blended in with the chatroom tab. She had an excuse.

 _...Do I really, though? Or am I just here because I just wanted to speak with him?_

She hoped it was the fact that she couldn't tell who it was.

 **Art** : Understandable.

 **707** : ajckwj;lakjf

 **707** : akdjfcoiwe

 **707** : The Defender of Justice is drowning in his work pile...

 **707** : ;;;;;

She couldn't not smile at his sentence... there was something she liked about how he treated his work. She thought that maybe she found something cute about it, but that couldn't be possible. She only found kittens and puppies cute, not people's reactions to an object. She grimaced, just slightly, after realizing that maybe the only reason why she liked how he talked about his work was because she related to him.

 **Art** : A tragedy.

 **707** : ...

 **707** : Art, is anything wrong?

She froze, her grip tightening on her phone.

 _Was anything wrong?_ Yes. She knew the answer to that. The answer was easy. Yes. Something was wrong. She could feel it in her bones, that something about this mission, about this group, about everything was absolutely wrong.

But _what_ was wrong?

That, she couldn't answer.

And she hated it.

 **Art** : No, why do you ask?

 **707** : I just thought you seemed a little cold.

 _Cold?_ She had never felt this way before, but she thought as if the whole world was tumbling down around her. All because of this single word, coming from the person she shouldn't care so much about. She blinked a couple of times, hoping to make herself feel much better. Being cold... she never thought that was a bad thing. She was always taught that being cold was good, that being emotionless was better for everyone, especially the target themselves.

She felt the weak dam she had tried to build just before crumble again.

 **Art** : Hm... I guess I'm just a little off today.

 **Art** : Sincere apologies.

 **707** : Don't pull a Jaehee on me!

 **707** : Noooooo!

Pull a Jaehee... She admitted that his joke was a little funny, and had to break out into a small smile. She tilted her neck (and heard a little _pop_ , too, causing her to cringe slightly) and continued to type.

 **Art** : No! I'm being infected by the Jaehee-talking virus!

 **707** : Gasp! No!

 **Art** : Nooo!

 **707** : How can we cure it?!

She looked back up at her computer screen, her search still in the search bar, the enter key untouched. There were still photos of kittens and coffee mugs, and she raised an eyebrow. She was starting to develop an idea, but she needed this to work properly. She needed Luciel to go along with it, and if she failed this, she would fail the mission.

It was obvious.

 **Art** : I heard that meeting with real, alive human beings help!

 **Art** : So... want to meet up for coffee or something tomorrow?

She curled up into a ball, feeling as if something was eating away at her stomach. She didn't realize that she was holding her breath, too, and she was holding her phone so tightly that it probably would have snapped in half if she added just a tad more pressure to it. She rocked back and forth on the couch, waiting for his reply, biting her lip just slightly.

If he denied her request, or became suspicious...

 **707** : Ooh! Yes! Coffee!

 **Art** : Yes! I will be cured tomorrow!

 **707** : ...Will you get there safe, though?

 **707** : I do want to see you... make sure you're truly safe...

 **Art** : I will be able to. I'm sure nothing will go wrong.

 **707** :

 **707** : Yay! Where do you want to meet, then?

Art opened a new tab (she didn't want to remove the kitten photos) and opened Poogle Maps, in hopes of finding coffee shops that were near an non-populous location. She needed to find a place where she wouldn't be spotted if she decided to eliminate him nearby.

Click.

Click.

A frustrated sigh, but a quiet one.

A little bit of typing.

Click.

She finally smiled when she found a cafe that didn't look too bad. It was near a place that had a lot of buildings (except for the strangely empty plot of land across the street from the cafe), but it seemed that nobody _lived_ in those buildings. That was strange, but she liked it. It seemed that a lot of people loved the cafe as well, because of its plain walls and plastic chairs? She shook her head. Some people were strange.

 **Art** : How about... Seochan Cafe?

 **707** : Oh, alright! That's near my house!

 **Art** : ...Your house?

 **707** : Actually, more like my bunker, lol

 **Art** : ...Your bunker?!

 **707** : shhhhhhh

 **707** : Noon, okay? See you soon!

 **Art** : Noon? Alright!

 **707 has left the chatroom.**

 **Art has left the chatroom.**

 _W-What am I doing?!_

She wasn't sure what the hell was going on in her mind. She knew that it was right to eliminate him as soon as possible, but she also knew that it was wrong to eliminate him as soon as possible. Everything was right, but everything was wrong.

Nothing was black and white anymore.

It was all grey. Everything.

Her hand shook slightly as she reached for her backpack. She was only a few inches away from grabbing it, but something stopped her. Her hand retreated, and she cursed silently.

 _Why can't I do this?_

She had been so excited to finally have a plan. She had been so determined to get rid of Luciel without anyone noticing. She had been ready to finish this mission, once and for all. But now, all the emotions and the thoughts slowly crumbled to dust as she realized that she couldn't do it.

She looked down at her feet, tasting something metallic in her mouth. She knew that she was going back to biting her lip or the inside of her cheek again. Her hands reached for her hair and started to pull on it, ignoring the pain she was feeling. She was worried.

For once, she was worried.

And she knew exactly why.

Her breaths came out, ragged, and she closed her eyes. _No. It isn't. I swear. It isn't._

She stood up, ignoring her backpack, which held all of her agency items. She pretended to not see it as she walked out of the living room, constantly asking the same question, and answering that with the same exact answers that would never satisfy her.

 _Was my determination to complete the mission all an act?_

* * *

 _ **Castle of Ploem  
**_ _ **Misan Mountains  
**_ _ **January 31st, 2010  
**_ _ **8:34 PM KST**_

 _"Tol, you're a goddamn idiot, you know that?"_

 _"Agh, jeez, calm down, it's just a small gash."_

 _"Small?!... Just lie down. How do you feel?"_

 _There they were. Just two brothers, one whose foot was connected to a pole by a chain, and one who was fumbling with the keys and trying to unlock it. The problem was, Eric's hand was constantly shaking as he held the keys, and he wasn't sure exactly which key was the one that would free his brother._

 _He took a deep breath, trying to steady his hand. The thing was, he felt like he was going to vomit any second because of the nerves, and because it smelled strangely like blood in here. He didn't even know how he could recognize the smell, because in his three years of being an agent, he had never smelled blood. He wasn't even sure if blood had any smell, but it seemed to have one in this room._

 _"Dizzy. Almost as if I would faint."_

 _He turned around to face Tol, his hands inserting a key and trying to turn it. His eyes were filled with worry and concern. "Let me see the cloth."_

 _Tol showed him the gash on the back of his head. It was approximately five inches or so, Eric assumed, but it was being covered by a piece of cloth that came from his backpack, which was in the corner of the tiny cell, next to his laptop. There was a sharp intake of breath when he realized that blood was soaking through the cloth and starting to drip._

 _"There's some tissues in my bag. Put it on top and press. Hard. The more pressure, the better."_

 _The injured person reached for the bag and pulled out a tissue, covering in the inside of the bag with blood. He let out a small giggle. "Is this tissue supposed to help?"_

 _"Pressure, Tol. Shut up."_

 _"Alright, alright... Haha..."_

 _"You're going insane." He inserted another key and turned it, finally hearing the ridiculously loud click and freeing Tol's foot. He looked up at his brother. "Can you walk?"_

 _"Probably."_

 _"Great. I'm glad they didn't take your shoes off, though. It'd be a pain to get off of the mountains..."_

 _Tol nodded, his eyes closing. "Your laptop's flashing red though. You might want to check that."_

 _"Hey!" Eric snapped his fingers, right next to Tol's ears, forcing his eyes to open once more to reveal bright emerald eyes. "Don't sleep on me. But yeah... the laptop is flashing red." He walked closer to his laptop, watching as the words "HACKED" continued to flash on his screen. He grimaced and closed his laptop, throwing it into the bag._

 _"So... what's wrong...?"_

 _"We need to leave. Now."_

 _"You're not answering my question, bro..."_

 _He picked up his backpack and quickly put it on, pulling out a gun. "Get up. The security system's back on. We need to find Art and get out."_

 _Tol struggled to get up, until Eric finally helped him. "Art?! Why the hell is she here?"_

 _"She wanted to come. I asked her to track you, but she ended up coming as well."_

 _"Are you serious?! She's 13!"_

 _Eric sighed, supporting Tol, who was quite obviously in pain. They slowly started to move out of the cell, Tol wincing every time he took a step, and Eric constantly looking around for anyone who could be trying to kill both of them._

 _"I know she is. It's her second year here, however."_

 _"Thirteen, Eric!"_

 _"Age doesn't exactly matter." They continued to slowly limp down the hall, their argument sounding loud in the stone hallways. They both shivered slightly, both from the temperature of the place, as well as the fact that everything was lit with candles and fire, not with modern lighting. Eric couldn't help but think that this place was extremely suspicious (but fitting for the owner), since it was in the middle of the mountains._

 _His hand reached for his earpiece. "44?"_

 _"Here." A fairly small, but high pitched, voice came out of the earpiece, signifying that Art was, indeed, safe._

 _"Location?"_

 _"West side. Near security system."_

 _He raised an eyebrow, and Tol glanced at him, confused. "Why?"_

 _"The cameras started to rotate again, so I assumed the system came back on. I'm going to try to take it down now."_

 _"Why the hell are you going to take it down?"_

 _Silence. Tol removed the cloth from his head, seeing that it was starting to drip blood again, but put it back over the gash after a glare from Eric._

 _"Alright, fine. East. Moving towards exit. Be careful," Eric finally replied._

 _"Mhm, sure." He could hear the sound of something being shot in the background, and he winced, hoping that she wasn't getting into something stupid._

 _Tol tried his best to smile. "So..."_

 _"Shut up and continue to walk."_

 _There was silence as the two of them continued to move towards the only exit they knew of. Tol saw black spots dancing in his vision, but didn't exactly want to say anything, so he continued to move slowly, with his brother, who was always looking behind him. At that point, they weren't noticing the security cameras, but none of them cared, since how the owner placed the security cameras meant that there were no blind spots._

 _How long have they been walking for?_

 _About twenty minutes._

 _Eric knew that something was awfully wrong, since he was starting to enter an unfamiliar part of the gigantic castle or hideout. He looked around, his eyes widening just slightly, when he saw the room number._

 _153._

 _He had never seen that number before._

 _Maybe he accidentally took a wrong turn? Maybe he was distracted and didn't even think about turning or taking the correct path. "Tol, we have to make a turn."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"I think I made a wrong turn."_

 _Tol sighed. "A wrong turn?"_

 _"Yes, a wrong turn. 153 isn't a recognizable room number. We were probably supposed to turn-"_

 _"Right after seeing room 196? You are correct."_

 _The two of them turned around, facing a single man, who had a weapon pointed directly at Tol. He had a grin on his face, his suit perfectly clean and not wrinkled, and his shoes were shining in the candlelight. His blonde hair was slicked back, and Eric swore that his green eyes looked insane at that time. He felt Tol backing up, just slightly, but also felt his brother starting to shake. His grip tightened on his arm as he glared into the man's eyes._

 _"Jitae. I have heard a lot about you."_

 _"It's Eric."_

 _He started to move closer to the two, and Tol started to move backwards, pulling Eric with him. While he tried to resist Tol, he realized that Tol was genuinely afraid of this man. He eventually relented and started to move backwards with him as well._

 _The man started to chuckle. "Eric. Such an American name. Jitae has such a nice ring. I recommend you use that name."_

 _"Only those who are close to me use that name, Ploem... or Kyungsoo?"_

 _The man, Ploem, smiled once more, his eyes widening. "Well, there is always a chance for us to grow close to each other. Congratulations for finding out my real name, but tell your dear brother to stop moving back. It is a dead end."_

 _Tol froze, tightening his grip on Eric's arm. Although it was a weak grip, probably due to his injuries, he could feel the fear from his own brother. The person he cared about the most. Eric looked to the sides of Ploem, wondering if running would help at this point._

 _"Do not run. I have guards coming right now. I would love to talk to you.. privately, Jitae."_

 _"Stop using that name." His voice was quiet, but there was anger behind it._

 _"I cannot, fortunately." He turned his head to face Tol, his voice still calm. "Jiyeon... tell your brother how your conversations with me have been. Go ahead. Tell him how fun they were."_

 _Tol widened his eyes, silent._

 _"Don't talk to my brother," Eric growled._

 _"Jiyeon. Go ahead. Tell him before I shoot one of you." Ploem continued to smile, his gun still raised._

 _Eric gritted his teeth. "I said, don't talk to my brother." A click came from his own gun, followed by a loud_ bang, _that wasn't from his gun...?_

 _The sound of something flying across the room was heard as Eric winced._

 _Ploem was a fairly talented shooter, having shot the gun out of Eric's hands._ _He shook his head and glared right at Ploem. He knew what his strategy would be, in order to get the two of them out of this situation._

 _Stall until someone came._

 _"You look pretty old for 34."_

 _Ploem's smile slowly faded. "What?"_

 _Eric smiled, trying to seem confident. "You had a daughter. What was her name...? Sunghee?"_

 _"Do not talk to me about my personal life."_

 _"Jung Sunghee, now known as Kim Sunghee. You gave her up for adoption. Why?" Eric held Tol closer to him._

 _Ploem was very clearly close to his breaking point. His face was flushed, and his eyes continued to narrow after every question Eric asked. "I said, Jitae, do not talk to me about my personal life. This includes talking about my daughter."_

 _"Kim Sunghee. Her new adoptive parents hate her, don't they? Worst part is, they don't even call her by her real name."_

 _"Jitae." Ploem's voice was laced with venom._

 _Eric tilted his head, maintaining his smile, while Tol just started to sway slightly. "Rika. Rika Kim. That's what they call her. That's what they call her when she argues with them, because-"_

 _"I said, do not talk to me about her!"_

 _Eric heard the click of a gun and Ploem's ragged breaths as he pointed the gun right at him. Ploem smirked slightly, although he was still red._

Good. As long as he doesn't target Tol _, he thought._

 _"You... You agents think that words can save you, don't you?" he laughed, "Well, they don't! Surprise! All they do is_ nothing! _Nothing at all!"_

 _Eric turned his head as soon as Tol started to put his entire body weight on him. He was starting to feel lightheaded. He was probably going to faint too, but he returned his attention to Ploem, glaring. "Didn't you have guards that were supposed to come?"_

 _The blonde man glared at Eric, not turning around. A mistake._

 _The hallway behind him was empty, except for a single girl, standing right in the center._

 _"Surprise, surprise, words are actually quite helpful," she nearly whispered, but everybody could hear what she was saying. Especially Ploem, who turned white after hearing a loud_ bang.

 _He fell to the ground, his sharp intake of breath, his final breath, being heard by the three agents._

 _Eric looked down at the now-dead man, noticing how blood was starting to spread all over the floor. He had landed on the ground, face-first, and his suit was now all wrinkled, covered in blood, and the hole in his back..._

 _Eric himself took a breath. Art had hit him right where his heart was supposed to be._

 _Her aim was deadly, just like his._

 _Tol was trying his best to feel joy, but all he felt was dread. Dread that the black spots that he saw before were starting to cover his vision, and dread that he felt himself slowly falling over._

 _He was lucky that Eric caught him._

 _Eric silently cursed. He was fine with running and shooting, but the reason why he asked his brother to try to walk by himself was because he hated carrying people. He wasn't strong and carrying someone else slowed himself down by a lot, which wasn't useful in missions. At all._

 _He looked up at Art, not lifting Tol up yet. Was she alright?_

 _She was looking down at her weapon, visibly shaking, even though she was about ten feet away. Her breaths were short, but loud, and he could tell that she was on the verge of breaking out into tears. She continued to look at the gun in her hands, still shaking, before throwing it violently against the nearby wall, screaming in agony._

 _"Art, Art!" He set Tol on the ground and ran over to her, jumping over the body. He had to kneel down in order to meet her eyes, which he did, and wiped some of the tears off of her face, leaving blood on it instead. He ignored that. "What's wrong?"_

 _"Tomorrow... and tomorrow... and tomorrow..."_

 _He put an arm over her shoulder, attempting to comfort her, although he wasn't the best at doing so. "Are you okay?"_

 _"Creeps in this petty pace from day to day... To the last syllable of recorded time..." She continued to shake, curling up into a ball._

 _"A-Are you reciting_ Macbeth? _"_

 _"And all our yesterdays have lighted fools..._ _The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!"_

 _"Art...?" He wiped more tears from her eyes, his own eyes concerned, but also watching for any guards._

 _"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player... That struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," she muttered to herself._

 _Her voice suddenly raised, her eyes widening as she looked at Ploem's body. "Nothing! Nothing, nothing, **nothing at all!**_ _" She ran towards his body, tears still flowing, but he held her back._

 _"Art! What's wrong?"_

 _Her breaths were still short, her eyes were wide, and her mouth was still open. "I... I just killed him."_

 _He didn't know what to say. It was clear that she was unlike him, considering how he was proud of his first few kills. "That was a good kill though..."_

 _"But that doesn't matter!" She backed away from him, her eyes wide and mad. "I killed him... There's no going back now! Maybe... Maybe I'll turn out like Macbeth or Lady Macbeth someday... either go insane or not feel anything at all..."_

 _Eric closed his eyes. "Art, that's not going to happen..."_

 _"I... I've reached the point of no return, have I?"_

 _"Don't think like that. You-"_

 _"I've taken a life! I can't bring him-" She crumbled to the ground, tears dripping from her face. "D-does it get better from here?"_

 _She was quiet when she asked her question, and raised her head to meet his eyes. Her wide eyes, still innocent. He wanted to tell her that she could leave now and return to a normal life if she wished, but he couldn't. Nobody left the agency unless they wished to be killed. He had to tell her the truth, but did he really want to?_

 _"It does. The more kills you make, the easier it gets. But I promise you, you won't end up like any of them," he reassured. He was lying. His first kills were thrilling, but eventually, every kill after that felt like a burden._

 _"But what if I do?" she asked._

 _He tried his best to put a small smile on his face. "You're you. And I know you. You won't turn out like them. Trust me."_

 _Art stood up, wiping her tears with her sleeves. "I-I trust you. And Tol. I'll believe what you say."_

 _"Thank you, Art." He walked over to Tol once more, picking him up, leaving the cloth on the floor. He didn't want to worry about that. "Now let's get out of here. We need to get him to a hospital or something."_

 _They started to walk down the hall, ignoring the body and Tol, who was still dripping blood from his head. It was silent until..._

 _"Eric?"_

 _"Yes?"_

 _"Have you read 356's romance novels?"_

 _"Her romance novels?"_ _He raised an eyebrow as the two of them continued walking, Art looking around for any threats. "I have. The ones that she write herself before publishing them onto Pattpad, right?"_

 _"Yeah, that. The ones about sacrifice... Do you think I'll find someone like that eventually? One that will also understand my agent life... one that is willing to sacrifice for me and one that I'm willing to sacrifice for them... one that cares for me like they do in those stories, and one that I can care for as well?"_

 _Eric raised both of his eyebrows. "Why did you read them in the first place?"_

 _Art didn't reply._

 _"...But I do hope you will someday. Be happy. Pick your own path. Pick a person that you are willing to sacrifice yourself for, and make sure that the person loves you as much as you love them..._

 _I think it will all be worth it in the end."_

* * *

 **I knew exactly what I wanted in the plot. I knew exactly how I wanted the plot to go, but I realized that I was missing the parts that were in between the main scenes/obstacles/etc.**

 **I rewrote the entire second half because without it, the next chapter... well, I'll explain it in the next chapter AN.**

 **I decided to give Rika's parents (or parent in this case) an actual name and personality (Ploem, or Jung Kyungsoo), as well as giving her an actual name as well (Jung Sunghee, or Kim Sunghee).**

 **I also revealed Eric's and Tol's real names (Jitae and Jiyeon, respectively). I have, however, not revealed Art's name yet, nor do I plan to for a while. This means that the character sheet will be updated soon.**

 **Anyways, thank you for reading!**

 **-Teri**


	10. Chapter 9

**Spoilers! Spoilers! SPOILERS! (Especially for the secret endings!)**

 **Changes: Eric and Tol's names have been changed to their real names when referring to them in description sentences. However, some characters will still call them "Eric" and "Tol" in dialogue. If, for some reason, you skipped Chapter 8, I recommend you read it.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

* * *

Chapter 9

 _ **RFA Text Messages  
February 2nd, 2017  
12:00 AM KST**_

 **Unknown** : Hello, 144~

 **Unknown** : You have 24 hours left before time is up.

 **Unknown** : Remember that if you fail...

 **Unknown** : I get to have a little fun with all of you.

 **Unknown** : Hm? No reply? I see, you must be sleeping.

 **Unknown** : Sleep well, little bird.

 **Unknown** : I'll see you very soon if you don't succeed.

* * *

 _ **Seochan Road  
** **Seochan Cafe  
** **February 2nd, 2017  
** **11:47 PM KST**_

A fairly slender person was standing outside of a cafe, her hand wrapped around something in her pocket, and her hair occasionally fluttering because of the slight breeze. Her eyes were looking down at her feet, noticing the little spots of dirt on her black shoes. A cold winter breeze forced her to zip her jacket up and shiver. She was already cold all the time; she didn't need to freeze even more.

That person's name was Art.

Art took out the little object in the pocket and tossed it between two hands, being very careful not to drop it or accidentally hurt herself with it.

She couldn't even feel the object bouncing between her hands. Her hands were numb.

It was a pocketknife, which had a sleek black handle, her agent number written in tiny numbers on the bottom of the handle. In one swift motion, the blade flew out. It was shiny silver, and she could see her own black eyes reflected.

They were wide. Her eyebrows were raised, and her eyes were ridiculously wide, almost as if she was afraid someone was going to attack her. She continued to stare at herself in the blade, willing her eyes to return to their emotionless state, and her eyebrows to return to a more normal position. She sighed, the blade retracting, putting the knife back into her pocket.

Today was it.

Today was the day she would complete her mission.

Today was the day she would complete her mission or Unknown would do something.

She pulled out her phone, opening the RFA chat. Unknown had sent her a few messages as soon as it turned 12, which made her blood go cold and sent a shiver down her spine. A little fun? She wasn't sure what his definition of "fun" was, but she was certain that it probably wasn't going to be fun for ANY, RFA, and her. "Little bird"? Okay, so maybe she was considered short compared to the towering giants whose height was considered "normal" nowadays, but still... "little bird"? What did that mean?

And why did it scare her more than it should have?

Art had sent a reply early this morning, as soon as she saw the messages. She clearly remembered reaching for her phone in bed, seeing those seven messages, before immediately swinging herself off of the bed and standing on her two feet, suddenly being filled with adrenaline. She remembered feeling her fingers moving across the keyboard, her mind filled with thoughts.

 _What if he hurts them?_

 _Don't you dare touch any of them._

 _Why is he doing this?_

 _Unknown, I want you to stop. Now._

 _Is he... sane?_

 _Very well. I'll participate in this little game with you._

She looked at the texts she sent this morning and grimaced, just slightly. She wished Luciel had installed some message deletion option, because she was sure that she wasn't exactly thinking properly this morning. Her messages were all over the place, ranging from being calm to being absolutely angry at Unknown. She still wasn't sure what happened that morning.

 **Art** : I recommend you don't harm any of them.

 **Art** : But why are you doing this?

 **Art** : I politely request an answer.

 **Art** : Why?

 **Art** : What did they ever do to you?

 **Art** : Nothing, right? Nothing?!

 **Art** : So what the hell are you doing?

She had to scroll down to read the last message, but she glanced at the time. 12:02. Luciel was late.

 **Art** : I swear, Unknown, if you touch them, I promise I'll make you regret it.

She continued scrolling down for some reason. It seemed as if Unknown finally responded to her messages, and they weren't messages that relieved Art in any way. No, she read these messages before throwing her phone back into her pocket, trying her best to remain emotionless.

Her eyes were blank. Her eyebrows were in its normal, resting position. Her mouth was almost in a straight line. Her shoulders were relaxed. She was only moving slightly because she was still shivering from the chilly winter air. Otherwise, she looked perfectly normal.

There was a reason why they were all required to learn how to act as soon as they joined the agency.

But if anyone looked closer into her eyes, they would probably see everything. All her worries. All her fears. All her insecurities.

And she hated that.

She looked around, focusing on the empty plot of land across the street. It was covered in tall grass and a sign that said, "Trespassers welcome, but be careful!". She laughed slightly and shook her head because of the sign. There was probably some secret security system underground or something.

There was a tree or two on the land, and Art did notice a little hole behind one of the trees. Maybe it was how people would access the supposed security system, but that was only a possibility. She couldn't be very sure about the idea.

The grass looked damp from where Art was, probably because of the rain.

She turned around, looking at the cafe. There was just a glass door that allowed her to see the inside of the cafe, which was filled with wooden tables and plastic chairs. She let out a breath, watching as it fogged in the air. That was where she was supposed to meet Luciel.

But he wasn't here yet.

Strange.

She turned around to face the plot of land, once more, wondering what could be in that hole. Almost as if some heavenly being wanted to answer her question, she saw a flash of red appear from the hole.

 _There's no way..._

She continued to watch, hoping that maybe something was fake about this. This was just an illusion. Maybe she was hallucinating.

But as soon as he turned around, revealing his striped glasses and his headphones, she started to realize that maybe this was real.

And as soon as he stepped out of the hole, wearing his black and yellow hoodie and his jeans, yelling, "Art! You're here already?", she knew that Luciel was the one living under that plot of land.

Art put on a smile and waved. "Hello Seven!"

 _Don't lose control this time, Art._

 _Maintain that act of yours._

She continued to smile as Seven walked closer to her, not even looking both sides before crossing the street.

"Let's cure the Jaehee-talking virus together, okay?" He flashed a cocky grin, his eyes brightening.

Art scoffed just slightly before managing a slight giggle. "Alright!"

She felt as if a spotlight was on her.

As if someone was watching her every move.

She looked behind her shoulder. Nobody was there.

 _I'm just being paranoid._

She turned around, and walked into the cafe with Seven, who was smiling and talking about something, but she couldn't focus on the words. It seemed as if he was speaking a completely new language he just made up.

She blinked a couple of times and tried to focus on what he was saying, because she couldn't mess up today.

She couldn't mess up. She knew what would happen if she made a mistake.

She shook her head and managed a smile when she glanced up at him.

 _Don't be suspicious._

* * *

 ** _Agency of New York Headquarters  
_** ** _Room 662 - Office of Eric Young  
February 2nd, 2017  
12:02 AM EST_**

The entire building was fairly quiet. While all the lights were still on outside, Jitae knew that nobody was there.

It was silent too, in his room, except for the sounds of his keyboard. It was also dark, too, unlike the bright, warm lights of the hallway outside. His contacts were back on, and he was back to wearing his plain white shirts. His emerald eyes stared at the screen, both focused and absentmindedly at the same time. It was another normal day in the agency for everyone but him.

Train delays were absolutely insane today, and he arrived to work late. An hour late, which was absolutely unacceptable in the agency, especially to the head of Group 1, which was the head of all heads (as well as the head of his own group, as well). He received even more work, which he thought was alright, until he realized that the due date was tomorrow.

Great.

Next, 192. He was a nightmare in general, almost like the class clown of the agency. His antics today involved an agent from Group 3, a toilet seat, and silly string, which ended up in an absolute mess, blood, and (somehow, he didn't want to know) a shattered toilet seat. He tried to hide it from the head, since he, personally, knew that Group 3's head was infamous for starting drama in the agency, but that didn't work.

Now a rumor was going around saying that 192 was going to be a target for the next mission, and all of Group 3's agents were "requested" to carry a can of silly string to spray at 192 if he was seen.

Jitae was certain that the hallway was still covered in silly string.

Finally, he was worried all day about something. Art and her mission, to be exact, because he wasn't sure what the hell she was doing.

Jiyeon had called him last night, when it was around one o'clock or so. He wasn't asleep at the time, since his work destroyed his sleep schedule, so he picked up, slightly irritated that his brother called him on his _agency phone_ , of all phones to call. He thought that he knew to call him on his personal rather than his agency, since, well, his agency phone calls could be seen by the other heads, which wasn't good, since they all thought that Jiyeon was dead.

 _"Hello_ _? Bro, are you up?_ "

"I picked up your call. I hope I'm up," he had replied, sitting, cross-legged, on his bed.

 _"Alright, great. I have something to say about Art."_

And there Jitae was, sitting there, for a full ten minutes as Jiyeon explained everything about RFA and Art's email. He had even sent a text of a screenshot of the email (to his personal phone, which he was glad about), which led Jitae to wonder what Art was really doing in Seoul.

Maybe she was using it as a disguise. When he brought this up to Jiyeon, he agreed, but then he also pointed out something else.

 _"What if she was caught?"_

What if...? There were too many what-ifs, and Jitae was starting to consider them all.

He had told his brother to call him on his _personal phone_ if anything else happened, before hanging up and trying his best to sleep while looking outside at the Hexington Avenue cars as they zoomed by. He wasn't sure what to think at this point.

And now? He still didn't know what to think.

He continued typing, his fingers moving automatically as they typed in the familiar lines of code. He looked up at the screen, scanned the text, and pressed "Enter," hoping for his computer to finish the job. He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes.

She was like a sister to him.

He couldn't lose her.

 _Ring... ring..._

Someone was calling him. He looked at his desk, where two phones were placed, side by side, one with a white case, the other with a black case. He sat up, leaning forward. The white phone was the one vibrating, not the black one.

Which meant that someone was calling his personal.

Was it Jiyeon? He did ask him to call his personal if there was anything else he found out.

He reached for the phone, his finger pressing the "Answer" button before he could even see who called him. Sighing at his mistake, he quickly put the phone to his ear and faced the computer screen.

"Hello?"

 _"You picked up! I'm glad... Hello, Eric!"_

The familiar, high-pitched, quiet voice seemed to echo in his head. It seemed so abnormally quiet compared to before, but at the same time, it seemed so loud. He closed his eyes tightly, and took a deep breath before replying.

"It's still a work situation. I don't understand why you're calling me that."

There was silence on the other side, although Jitae could hear a piece of paper being crumpled.

 _"Can we forget about work for once? And just talk like we used to...?"_ Her voice was even quieter than before, and maybe, just maybe, there was a slight hint of nostalgia in it. He gently rubbed his eye with his other hand before typing a few things on the keyboard.

"Alright. What is it?"

A small sigh. _"Remember when I asked you about 356's romance novels?"_

Of course. He remembered the scene quite well. "What about it?"

 _"It's just... you know, I never thought they would come true."_ He could hear the slight smile in her voice, although he grimaced, just slightly. He didn't know what he was feeling. Joy? Fear? Disgust? Maybe all three, and even more?

"Come true? Art, you're in the middle of a mission."

 _"No... I'm serious."_

His hand froze on the keyboard, before continuing to type. She did sound serious. She sounded determined, and whenever she sounded like that, it usually meant that she was dedicated and unwilling to bend.

No matter what anyone said.

"...What do you mean, then?"

A much, louder sigh followed his question as he pressed "Enter" once more, expecting this to be the last time.

 _"Am I going to regret telling you?"_

"I hope you don't."

 _"...Alright. I think I like someone."_

He sat there, his face still emotionless. A surprise. It's not as if she hinted it in the sentences before this one.

"And? That isn't much of a surprise."

Her voice suddenly dropped. _"Not just anyone, though. I think I like the wrong person."_

He raised his eyebrows as the screen turned green, indicating a success. "The wrong person? What do you mean by that?"

 _"Is it safe to tell you his name?"_

"I suppose. This is my personal, after all."

 _"Alright."_

There was silence, in his room, and on the phone. That is, until she took a big breath and said, _"It's Luciel."_

Those two words. It's Luciel. He quickly shut down the computer, afraid that maybe, just maybe, someone was hearing him through his computer mic. He sat in complete darkness, his emerald eyes wide open and staring at the black ceiling. His voice wasn't quiet, just low, as he replied, "What?"

 _"I-I know. He's the wrong person to like, and I messed-"_

"Art, stop."

The phone was dead silent as he took a breath, preparing what to say. What was he supposed to say? He had only fallen in love once before, and that didn't turn out well because of his job. He had only read romance novels before, and that didn't turn out well because 356 loved cheesy stories. He had no experience in this field, whatsoever. The only person he knew that did have experience was, well, Jiyeon.

But he couldn't stop and tell Art to call Jiyeon now.

"I first want to ask you: Are you insane?"

 _"I can expla-"_

"Don't. I have more to say. I'm glad you found someone you like, though."

 _"You are?"_

"I am." He crossed his legs, glancing at his computer, which was off and silent. "Please be careful though."

There was a hint of anger and surprise in her voice. _"Why should I?"_

"Both of you are agents. Once you take a step out of this agency to stay with Luciel, you're going to have ANY on your tail. Once you give up on this mission, you have the Unknown guy on your tail. If Luciel leaves his agency and moves to the States, you're going to have SPA on your tail."

 _"Wait... you know the Unknown guy?"_

"I thought you read the file. Did I not put a post-it saying that you were hired by a guy named 'Unknown'?"

 _"It said that I was hired by Unknown. Not a guy_ named _'Unknown.'"_

"My bad. But yes, you were. But speaking about before, just be careful. When is your flight?"

 _"The fourth."_

"The fourth? Are you-"

 _"I'm not coming back, Eric. If Unknown threatens him and the other members-"_

"Of your little charity group?" He heard Art take a sudden breath. "Don't panic. Tol called me."

 _"I never thought he would have done that."_

"We're brothers."

There was a small giggle coming from the as Jitae looked at the door. The lights were still on outside of the hallway, and he was certain that he just heard the sound of something spraying, followed by a slight yelp. 192 was still in the office? Surprising.

 _"Haha, of course. But I know he is. The reason why he hired us was to eliminate Luciel, who seems to be vital for the protection of the group."_

This was new information. He narrowed his eyes as the sound of spraying continued. "Elaborate."

She coughed quietly. _"Alright. RFA has a group chat, sort of like our group chat. It's meant to plan parties and stuff, and Luciel is the one in charge of the security of the group chat. He is in charge of confidential information, as well as the protection of the party planner, who is, currently-"_

"You."

 _"Yes, me. I don't know what connections Unknown has towards this group yet, but..."_

Jitae smiled, although it was a grim smile. He knew exactly the connections between Unknown and Luciel. Saeran and Saeyoung. But she couldn't tell Art, in fear for her telling the other members of the group, which would lead to suspicions.

And that was never good.

"I see. I'll see how bad it gets."

 _"Why?"_

"If the situation is really bad, I might as well make a stop in Korea before I go to Tokyo."

 _"Tokyo?! What?"_

"I'm visiting Tol."

 _"You are?!"_

"Yes, no need to sound so surprised." He laughed, quietly. "Anyways, please be careful. Don't be careless because of him."

 _"...Jitae?"_

He shivered. Did she really call him by his real name? He ignored the strange feeling and asked, "What is it?"

 _"You told me that it would all be worth it in the end if I found someone I was willing to sacrifice myself for..."_

"Yes?"

 _"...I think I found him, and I'm certain it'll be worth it. I'll see you soon, Eric. Stay safe."_

 _Click._

* * *

 ** _Mint Eye Headquarters  
Throne of the Savior  
February 2nd, 2017  
4:49 PM KST_**

"Savior..."

"What is it?"

Two figures were in the elaborate throne room, decorated with velvet curtains, the Mint Eye logo, and tons of gold; fake or real, they weren't so sure. One person, her blonde hair curled and bouncing up and down as she bobbed her head to the imaginary music, was wearing beautiful white and teal robes as she sat on her throne. The other person was kneeling, not daring to look up into her emerald eyes, his white and pink hair covering his face just slightly. His jacket was half-off as he kneeled.

"We need to activate the plan."

Rika, the Savior, stopped her humming, before managing a slight glare at Unknown. "I did tell you that hiring an agent wouldn't work, didn't I?" She brushed some imaginary dust off of her robes.

"I know, but-" Unknown looked up, his own mint eyes staring back at her green ones.

"Are you arguing with me?" She stood up, looking down at him, her voice raised.

He looked back down, at his shoes. "I-I'm not, Savior. I apologize."

"I accept your apology." She sat back down, smoothing her robes, managing a smile on her face again. "What did you do?" Her voice was as sweet as honey.

"I stalked her, to the cafe where she and Luciel were meeting. She walked out in the middle of it, throwing her one and only weapon onto his plot of hand, muttering something about how she couldn't do it."

"Continue."

"Luciel drove her home, and went back to his house after dropping her off."

Rika smiled grimly. "Of course."

"I hacked into their camera system once again, and then listened. She was talking to someone - her head, I assume - and said something about how she liked Luciel, that traitor." He spat out the last two words, as if they were poison.

"Hm. You cannot trust anybody but me, do you understand? Trusting an outsider to do your job..."

"I understand."

"Very well; I'm glad you have learned. Gather all who have some knowledge of hacking, because the plan will be activated tonight."

Rika stood up as Unknown continued to kneel. She walked towards the door, before turning back and facing Unknown's mint eyes once more.

"And you will finally get your revenge."

* * *

 **Chapter 9 finished!**

 **After the cafe scene, that's where the "Caution! Game branches here. Continue?" thing would be.**

 **But now you know what Chapter 8 was necessary: It needed to lead up to the cafe thing. The past story thing was necessary for the phone call between Jitae and Art. Chapter 8 was a filler chapter, but at the same time, an important filler chapter.**

 **This chapter though... It was easier to write compared to 8.**

 **I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you!**

 **-Teri**


	11. Chapter 10

**Thank you, SailorNerd and OSAMA NEKONI for your reviews! Thank you, thank you, and thank you!**

 **I appreciate all of your reviews, follows, favorites, anything! Thank you, thank you, and thank you again!**

 **Happy Valentine's Day! And now, straight to the chapter (Enjoy)!**

 **-Teri**

* * *

Chapter 10

 _ **Hyperial Tower  
**_ _ **Apartment 1429  
**_ _ **February 2nd, 2017  
**_ _ **11:58 PM KST**_

 _Tick tock... tick tock... tick tock..._

Art sat on her bed, occasionally glancing out the door, hoping that nobody was standing in the hallway, waiting to attack her. She continued to turn her head, her eyes slightly narrowed in order to hopefully scare any intruders. Her handgun in her hand, her phone in the other, she continued to look around until she was certain that nobody was there. She was alone in the apartment.

 _Besides, if someone was here, Seven would be looking out for me, right?_

The entire apartment was dark, the curtains blocking the view of the city lights. The only source of light came from Art's room, where she was holding her phone, the brightness at its highest setting. She had the RFA chat open, although nobody was on, and she was constantly glancing at the time.

She had to admit it.

She was paranoid.

The faint sound of the clock was heard from her room, although the clock was hanging in the kitchen. She continued to listen to it, hoping that it would calm her nerves down in some way. _Tick tock... tick tock... tick tock..._

But it didn't.

She took a deep breath and looked back down at her phone again, loosening her grip on her handgun before sliding it back into her bag. She couldn't seem terrified. She had to act, and seem confident to the potential intruder in order to scare them.

11:59.

One minute until her deadline.

She tightened her ponytail, leaving her phone on the bed. Maybe this was a terrible choice. She could have done it in the cafe, and disposed of the cafe worker as well. Then, she wouldn't be stuck in this situation. This was new to her, not succeeding in a mission. And she knew perfectly well that the aftermath of her failure would be very new to her as well.

After all, she was usually the chaser. Not the one being chased.

She picked up her phone again, brushing imaginary dust off of the sheets. She shivered slightly, closing her eyes, before reaching for the lamp and turning it on. The warm glow of the lamp filled the room, making Art smile, just a little bit. For some reason, the light comforted her a bit.

She didn't know what happened in the past few days. All she knew was that she entered RFA, and somehow, just somehow, fell in love in less than three days. That was impressive. Very, very impressive. She didn't even know what caused her to fall in love with Luciel.

Was it his laughter? His jokes? Or maybe... what happened in the cafe?

 _"Sweetie, wait. This might come as a shock, but he has something for you."_

 _"What's that 'something'?"_

 _"It's called feelings, little one. He has feelings for you, and I know you do too."_

The conversation with the cafe owner scared her. She had feelings for him. And he did too.

But could she live a normal life if they actually did get together? She knew the answer to that. They wouldn't. The penalties for leaving ANY was death, and she assumed it was the same for SPA. The only way she could leave peacefully, without being a target, was if she decided to retire at the age of 40. But even then, ANY would always keep track of her moves. What she said. What she did.

Her phone vibrated multiple times. She looked down at the screen.

 **Jumin Han has entered the chatroom.**

 **Jumin Han** : Oh, hello Art. Have you seen Assistant Kang?

 **Jaehee Kang has entered the chatroom.**

 **Jaehee Kang** : I see you were looking for me, Mr. Han.

 **Jumin Han** : Yes, I was.

 **707 has entered the chatroom.**

 **Zen has entered the chatroom.**

 **Yoosung has entered the chatroom.**

 **Art** : Hm, full house.

 **Zen** : Art?! You're still up?

 **Zen** : A pretty lady like you should never be up this late.

 **Jumin Han** : I was wondering if you finished the cat project.

 **Jaehee Kang** : The cat hotel one? I did.

 **Jaehee Kang** : I should have sent the reports to you yesterday.

 **Yoosung** : Seven! I have a new Darius skin!

 **Art** : Nice, Yoosung!

 **Art** : And haha, don't worry about me, Zen. I have my own reasons for staying up late.

She looked down at her phone and managed a small smile. It was 12:00. Her deadline.

She felt... free, for some reason. Although, she didn't exactly understand why.

 **707** : Guys!

 **Jumin Han** : Yes?

 **707** : I think we're going to have a slight problem here.

 **Art** : What's wrong?

 **707** : Um...

 **707** : How do I explain it?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Please hurry, Seven.

 **707** : Okay, well... there's a security breach.

 **Yoosung** : What?!

 **707** : And we might face some problems...

 **707** : Problems involving 224 new members?

 **Zen** : WHAT?!

 **Jaehee Kang** : What do you mean?

 **Jumin Han** : Luciel, I want an explanation.

Art nearly dropped her phone as soon as the vibrations came.

She did her best to scan the lines, but as soon as one appeared on the screen, it immediately disappeared because of the sudden influx of people. She let the phone vibrate for a while, occasionally seeing the members start screaming their heads off (or texting their heads off? She wasn't really sure). Finally, the vibrations stopped and she glanced at the names.

 **498 has entered the chatroom.**

 **576 has entered the chatroom.**

 **727 has entered the chatroom.**

 **738 has entered the chatroom.**

These numbers...

She could connect these numbers to faces. She knew exactly what these numbers meant.

They were agent numbers.

 **Zen** : SEVEN!

 **707** : I know, I know;;; I'm trying.

 **707** : Someone call V

 **Jumin Han** : I will.

 **Yoosung** : Hackers! So many hackers!

 **294** : what is this

 **812** : I dunno; its so strange

 **Yoosung** : THEY'RE SPEAKING!

 **Yoosung** : Seven!

 **707** : talk later;hacking

 **707** : theyall come fromsame place?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Who are you all? Where do you come from?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Are you all related to the hacker?

 _Shit._

Art knew that something bad was going to happen, but she didn't know that her _entire agency_ would suddenly join the RFA chat. She wiped a droplet of sweat from her forehead and watched as her phone was suddenly greeted by a bunch of vibrations.

 **306** : who r u all?

 **512** : What are we doing here?

 **512** : Who the hell are you?

 **035** : stay calm, all. stay calm.

 **104** : How can we stay calm? We can't delete this app!

 **712** : Why are we here?

 **Jumin Han** : Be quiet and stop shitting around.

 **192** : ohohohoho scary

 **Zen** : What are you all doing here?!

 **Jaehee Kang** : I agree. What are you doing in this chat?

 **491** : OMG ARE YOU ZEN?!

 **408** : IT IS

 **491** : AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 **491** : I LOVE YOU!

 **Zen** : Thank you; I know I am beautiful.

 **Zen** : But this is not the time;;

She sat there, hunched over her phone, her hands frozen, her eyes wide. Why? Why did this have to happen?

Her phone continued to vibrate, all of the people in this chat clearly panicking. She kept track of every single number that was speaking and then realized.

Jitae was silent. He was, in fact, the only one silent.

The messages continued to appear and disappear before she decided she needed to do something.

 **Art** : Guys.

 **129** : We need to solve some issues here!

 **Art** : Guys...

 **961** : What are we doing here?!

 **Art** : GUYS!

 **Art** : I INVITE YOU ALL TO SHUT UP.

 **Art** : I WILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING.

 **412** : What are you doing here?

 **812** : Yeah, what are you doing here, 144?

 **Zen** : Art... you know these people?

 **727** : Let her explain.

Art read the number over and over again, thinking that maybe she read the number wrong. However, she knew who that number was associated with. Jitae.

 **192** : What the hell can she explain? That she's a traitor?

 **707** : A traitor? Art... what does he mean?

 **192** : She _betrayed_ us. She failed and now we all have to deal with the consequences.

 **192** : Thank you, Art. Thank you so, so much for not doing anything.

 **Jaehee Kang** : I recommend you do not attack our members like that.

 **Jumin Han** : I agree. Stop, 192, whoever you are.

 **Yoosung** : Seven! How is it going?

 **707** : I'm trying to pinpoint their location but someone's stopping me

 **Art** : That would be all of them trying to stop you.

 **192** : Yes, all of us are. Thanks again for doing nothing. Thanks again for bringing us here!

 **727** : 192, I kindly remind you that your job is at risk.

 **727** : I also kindly remind you that I can let her make you as a target.

 **727** : Let her explain.

He didn't have to explain who "her" was. Everybody knew who she was, since word spread around the office quickly.

But Art sat there, still frozen as she stared at her keyboard. What was she going to say?

 _"Oh, hey guys, I'm a secret agent for ANY that was hired to kill Luciel except I sorta fell in love with him instead!"_

She couldn't just do that. She looked at the chatroom, expecting more and more messages to suddenly pop up, before noticing that the entire chatroom went silent. They were probably waiting for her to type something with her shaking hands. While she didn't want to type anything and just leave, she knew that if she just left, the entire chatroom would be thrown into chaos.

Hackers and agents against a group of defenseless people.

Except for Seven, of course.

She had to do something. She took a shaky breath and began to type, her hands continuing to shake.

 **Art** : Thank you.

 **Art** : My number is 144. I am more commonly known as Art. And I am an agent for the Agency of New York, Group 2.

She stopped there, giving them all a chance to react. However, she continued to type once she was greeted by dead silence. Was it the good type of silence? Was it the bad type of silence? She didn't know, and maybe, she didn't want to know.

 **Art** : I was asked to eliminate Luciel Choi without dragging too many people into this situation.

 **Art** : Except, I failed.

 **V has entered the chatroom.**

 **Art** : I came to this apartment because of a little tip given to me by Unknown. How this address would be connected to Luciel's, in some strange way.

 **Art** : And I came to realize that it was. It was connected because of this charity group, RFA.

 **Art** : Maybe I made a mistake, I don't know. It seems like a mistake to you now, but to me... it feels right. I think I'm doing the right thing.

 **192** : The right thing?! You think you're doing the RIGHT THING?!

 **298** : yeah i agree. this isnt the right thing, art

 **Art** : You guys... don't understand.

 **Jaehee Kang** : So what you were saying is that you were sent here to kill 707?

 **Art** : Yes, I was.

 **707** : ...

 **707** : These 224 people...

 **707** : They're all from ANY?

 **V** : I believe so.

 **Yoosung** : V! You're here!

 **Zen** : V!

 **Jumin Han** : Hello, V.

 **471** : Who?

 **Jaehee Kang** : Hello V!

 **V** : Hello. I see that we seem to have an issue here.

 **Art** : Yes... we do. I'm sorry.

 **192** : Is all you can say "I'm sorry"? Is that it?!

 **192** : If you just picked up the knife and just stabbed him...

 **707** : ...

 **192** : We wouldn't be here now!

Art read the last message, over and over again to herself. She was starting to rock back and forth, back and forth, unable to contain her frustration.

They didn't _understand_.

She didn't know what she was feeling, too. Frustration was definitely one of them. Guilt was also another. But she felt so much more than just those two, although she couldn't connect those emotions with words. She was holding the phone so close to her face that the screen was even starting to fog up.

 **V** : 192, please calm down. Nothing will be solved if you keep screaming.

 **727** : I agree. Thank you, V.

 _Hm. V and Eric... they would actually probably get along quite well._

 **192** : Calm down?! I can't calm down if we suddenly have an app that we can't delete.

 **192** : What's going to happen now, hm? A sudden code blue because of some threat from the same person that asked you to kill him?

 **192** : You were given such an easy job, Art.

 **192** : So easy...

She nearly screamed. It wasn't easy. Not at all. It was one of the most difficult missions because...

 **Art** : Try calling it easy if you've accidentally fallen in love with him.

Dead silence.

Nobody dared to react to her statement. Nobody. None of the agents, none of the RFA members, nobody. Just silence.

This was strange to her, because she could even feel the silence and tension in the air, even though they were all so far away from each other. So far away, and yet, she could tell what they were all feeling.

All the frustration and anger from before dissipated, leaving her alone with guilt and shame.

 **Art** : I-I'm sorry. I said too much.

 **Art** : I'll delete the app or something... I'm sorry. It's all my fault.

 **Art** : And - I promise - I'm going to fix it all.

 **Art has left the chatroom.**

She put her head in her hands and wiped the tears that she didn't notice were there in the first place. She knew that ANY would never let her back into the agency without killing her. She knew that, probably, RFA wasn't going to accept her after this incident.

She was all on her own now.

And that hurt more than anything else.

Her phone vibrated, and she looked up, the tears all wiped from her eyes and face. Trying her best not to cry any more, she reached for her phone and took a look at who sent the messages.

Was it the chatroom? Because if it was, she would ignore it.

She blinked a couple of times, reading the notifications.

It wasn't from RFA.

The person, whoever it was, directly messaged her. She knew exactly who the person was.

It was Unknown.

 **Unknown** : All your fault.

 **Unknown** : All you had to do was stab him, hm? You could have done it in the cafe. Easy.

He knew.

Unknown knew that she was in the cafe with Seven. So how much more did he know? How much did he know about ANY? How much information did he have access to? Art felt her head spinning as she tried to process this information.

 **Art** : I could have. You wouldn't understand, though.

 **Unknown** : Tsk tsk. You fell in love with him. What is there not to understand about the situation?

 **Unknown** : You fell in love with your target. That is something to be ashamed of.

 **Unknown** : You're an agent. You should know better than to love.

She took a sharp intake of breath. He was telling her what to do.

How to be an agent.

How to be a _proper_ agent.

How bad love was for agents.

She couldn't stand this. She didn't want to have someone else trying to control her emotions or feelings.

She felt all the stress and tension from before, as well as the sudden frustration she felt, cause her to snap.

 **Art** : You can't relate because you've never been loved. Nor have you ever loved anyone.

 **Art** : You can't relate because you're probably one of the coldest people in the world.

 **Art** : Going after a charity organization. An organization dedicated to helping all.

 **Art** : You should know better than to hate on harmless groups.

 **Unknown** : Ha! You're telling me what to do?

 **Unknown** : RFA isn't as harmless as you think. There are secrets hidden behind it... evil secrets.

 **Art** : What the hell do you mean?

 **Unknown** : You're not in the position to ask questions right now.

 **Unknown** : Remember that everyone: RFA, ANY, you...

 **Unknown** : You're all at my mercy.

 **Unknown** : Get some sleep, little bird.

 **Art** : Why? And why do you keep calling me "little bird"?

 **Unknown** : Oh, don't worry.

 **Unknown** : Just know that today's going to be a long day for you.

She locked her phone, putting it on the nearby drawer.

 _Today's going to be a long day for you._

What the hell did he mean?

She put her handgun right next to her phone, putting the blanket over herself and trying her best to sleep.

Her heart was still beating quickly. She was still sweating, just slightly. She knew she was still shaking, and that tears were trying its best to not spill from her eyes. She closed her eyes in hopes of containing the tears, and in hopes of sleeping as soon as possible.

The phone started to vibrate nonstop again.

She turned so that the back of her head was facing the phone, and curled up into a ball under the perfectly white sheets. She wouldn't touch her phone. She couldn't join the chat again.

She didn't want to make their lives even more miserable than it was already.

Besides, she couldn't do anything. She was helpless.

All she could do was watch.

Watch as everyone suffered.

Watch as everyone died.

Watch as everyone left her because of her actions. Her emotions.

 _But..._

She opened her eyes wide, seeing the bright light of her phone illuminating the ceiling. They were still a little damp, but there seemed to be a sparkle in them. She blinked a few times, smiling just a little bit.

 _What if I could do something?_


	12. Chapter 11

**Do I even have to say spoilers anymore...? (More AN at end of story)**

* * *

Chapter 11

 _ **RFA Text Messages  
**_ _ **February 3rd, 2017  
**_ _ **6:04 AM KST**_

 **Unknown** : Wake up, little bird!

 **Art** : ...What do you want now?

 **Unknown** : I want to play a little game with you.

 **Unknown** : I'll give you until 9 AM.

 **Art** : Can I not? You've messed with me enough.

 **Unknown** : You might want to play this game though...

 **Unknown** : Three hours and twenty-six minutes to save an RFA member.

 **Art** : What?

 **Unknown** : Two, actually. I want to take RFA out as soon as possible before focusing on ANY.

 **Art** : You're sick in the head.

 **Unknown** : Zen.

 **Unknown** : Yoosung.

 **Unknown** : Jaehee.

 **Unknown** : Jumin.

 **Unknown** : Luciel.

 **Unknown** : V.

 **Unknown** : You win if none of them die.

 **Art** : Can I still not participate? I'd like to focus on... something else.

 **Unknown** : If you don't participate, I go after all of them.

 **Unknown** : Your choice.

 **Art** : ...

 **Unknown** : I'll help you though.

 **Art** : Help me? Last time you tried to "help me", you put me into this situation.

 **Unknown** : Hm, I see. So you don't want my help?

 **Art** : ...Fine. I'll take whatever "help" you have.

 **Unknown** : In that case, good luck.

 **Unknown** : I hope to see you very soon.

* * *

 _ **SKY National University  
**_ _ **Dorm 482 - Yoosung's Dorm  
**_ _ **February 3rd, 2017  
**_ _ **7:45 AM KST**_

 _"Um... ShootingStar?"_

Yoosung sighed at his desk, his head resting on his arm. His other hand continued to click the mouse as he glanced up at the screen, which was filled with various skins for his champions. He stopped clicking for a second to turn his mic on before saying, "What is it?"

The voice on the other side hesitated a little bit before replying, _"You've been on for nearly fifteen hours. What are you doing?"_

 _Fifteen hours?!_

Yoosung widened his eyes and looked at the curtains, blocking the sunlight from entering his room. In one swift motion, he pulled it open and immediately covered his eyes right after. It was bright outside, the sunlight giving his room a more lively look.

His room that he still needed to clean, that is.

The textbooks he needed for his classes were scattered all over the floor, some of them opened, others thrown into a pile mixed with his clothes. His bed wasn't made, at all; the blanket was hanging off of the bed, collecting dust from the carpet that he didn't bother to vacuum. Pencils, pens, erasers, and eraser shavings were covering his desk and the floor. While he tried to clean up his room, he always lost interest as soon as one of his guild members messaged him about a special boss.

This week was LOLOL's 3rd Anniversary, which meant that starting today, the entire week would be filled with special boss invades and champion skin giveaways. He had prepared for this. The drawer right next to his computer was filled with Honey Buddha Chips... and that was about it.

He sighed and put his head in his arms. "I'm waiting for the Grina boss invade."

 _"That comes in 35 hours."_

"Right. Well, anyways, I'm going to play a match."

 _"Another one? You've played 30+ matches already."_

He looked back up at the screen, his hand already curling over the mouse. He blinked his weary eyes and nodded, forgetting that the other players couldn't see his nod through their screens. He needed a distraction, especially after what happened last night.

Art... he was shocked. So shocked, in fact, that he nearly threw his headset on the table and walked out of his house to take a little walk. So shocked, in fact, that he nearly missed a boss invade. He couldn't believe it at first.

Art, an agent sent to kill Seven. Ridiculous.

However, he felt as if someone had stabbed him in the back. He was restless. He felt pained, and the thought of what happened in the RFA chat last night kept him up, unable to fall asleep.

He took a deep breath. "I know. It's fine."

Another played joined in the chatroom. _"ShootingStar, are you okay? You've been up for quite a while."_

"I know."

 _"Is everything alright?"_

 _No._

He turned his head to face his phone, only to see a pile of papers. He picked up the papers and put them on the floor, revealing his phone. _No_.

It was charging on the table, silent after an entire night of constant vibrations. He smiled sadly. His phone needed a break. _No._

He looked down at the papers, which were now scattered all over the floor. Information on cell theory. A list of pet medications under that, which he needed to memorize and know the effects of before next week. Another packet under that packet, revealing how different medications reacted with each other. And so much more. _No_.

His attention was back on his phone as soon as he heard it vibrate. _No, everything isn't alright._

He laughed into the microphone, still looking at his phone as it vibrated and moved towards the edge of the drawer. He did his best to make the laugh seem realistic. "Everything's alright. Thanks for asking."

The other two players in the chat were silent, and Yoosung could tell that they didn't really believe him. He looked out the window again, letting the sun blind him temporarily. Sunshine was supposed to make people happier, right?

He took off his clips and reclipped his bangs back into position. A lighthearted sigh came from his mouth as he managed a smile, trying to make it seem as if everything was alright.

 _And I thought you were like Rika..._

"So, do any of you want to play a round?"

 _Rika was kind..._

He could hear the smile in the players' voices as they said, _"Of course."_

 _But so were you..._

He could also hear the hesitation in one of the players' voices, however. _"Don't you need sleep?"_

 _But you..._

"I don't! I'm perfectly fine, I promise!" He smiled himself, his violet eyes shining in the sunlight, but also teary. "Ranked or Classic?"

 _You... weren't honest._

 _"Hm... Ranked. I want to improve my ranking."_ Yoosung truly smiled after hearing that. The player's ranking was only slightly lower than his, so he couldn't believe that he wanted to make the rating higher. He shook his head.

 _Rika was. She was the most honest person I have ever met._

He laughed into the microphone, starting to forget everything that happened last night. He was with two of his guild members, his internet friends that made him happy. "Really? Your ranking is 23. That's high."

 _"I know, but your ranking is 2. That's ridiculously high."_

"Haha, I know, but 23 is really good!"

The other silent player in the chatroom suddenly screamed. _"Boss invade! Talidar is coming!"_

Yoosung nearly jumped out of his chair. Talidar? No way. "Talidar! I want him! Really badly! Let's go!"

His mouse hovered over the little "x" in the corner of the chatroom before one of them burst out laughing, saying, _"Talidar doesn't begin until 3:00 PM. He tricked you, ShootingStar. He always does."_

"W-what? He did?"

 _"My cue to leave."_

The player that tricked Yoosung about the Talidar invade automatically left the chatroom before Yoosung could even yell. However, he only put his head on the desk and said, "I really wanted Talidar."

 _"He'll come soon. Anyways, you said you wanted to play a round, right?"_

His head popped back up, eyes glittering once more. They were dry now. "Of course! Let's play!"

He had started to create a room for him and the player until he said, _"I'll be right back. Sister's crying again."_

"Oh... tell her to feel happier!"

 _"I will."_

A little symbol appeared next to the other player's name, indicating that their microphone was muted. Yoosung sighed, muted his own microphone, and leaned back into the chair. He leaned his head back to look at the ceiling as his phone continued to vibrate.

The memories of last night were starting to enter his mind once again.

The worst part about the agents joining the RFA chatroom was that he couldn't start talking about personal stuff in the chat. He sighed and looked at the calendar.

February 3rd.

He felt the tears returning to his eyes again.

It was as if life hated him. Life decided to throw everything at him today.

Rika left on this day.

Art betrayed them on this day.

He needed his RFA friends to comfort him on this day, but he couldn't now, with all of the agents there. He couldn't do anything now. He curled up into a ball on his chair and did his best to blink the tears away.

He had photos of Rika, he remembered.

They were somewhere in the drawer, in a huge, white envelope. There was a purple ribbon glued on it, as well as a little note from V.

 _"Take it, Yoosung. You and Rika were very close... I think you need these photos more."_

 _Yoosung glared into V's teal eyes. "So you're giving up photos of the person you loved the most? Do you really want to forget her that badly? Do you?!"_

 _"I don't, Yoosung. I just think-"_

 _"You just think what, V?! What? It hasn't even been a week and you're already trying to get rid of everything Rika left behind. It hasn't even been a week and you already look calm and relaxed again. Why don't you feel hurt? Why don't you?!"_

 _"Yoosung..."_

 _Yoosung sneered, throwing the envelope into his dorm. He continued to glare at V, screaming, "Don't just say my name like that! Do something! Feel pain! If you loved her so much, then why aren't you sad?"_

 _V stood there, staring at Yoosung, his face a mixture of guilt and shame. He shook his head, looking at Yoosung's amethyst eyes once more. "I'm sorry."_

 _"You're sorry? That's it?!" Yoosung lashed out, wanting to shove V. "I don't believe you."_

 _He slammed the door and fell to the ground right after, unable to contain his loud sobs and tears._

He ripped the note off, suddenly reminded of the conversation they had a week after Rika died.

"Please, take these photos. And, Yoosung, I'm sorry. -V"

He growled as he tore the paper up into pieces, the pieces mixing with his homework, books, and clothing on his floor. He took off his headset and picked up his phone, tears running down his cheeks once more. He wiped them off with his hands, flipping open his phone.

2817 new messages.

All from RFA.

He didn't care about that. Instead, he quickly opened the phone app, wishing to talk with some of the RFA members. Surely, they didn't forget, right?

He was first going to call Jaehee. He was about to press the OK button when-

"What...?"

Someone was calling him.

He couldn't recognize the number. It wasn't even a number in the first place. It was just a random mix of letters and symbols, and he tried pressing the "end call" button. It wouldn't stop. It continued to ring, his ringtone now echoing in his head.

He had to pick up.

He pressed the green phone button. "Hello?"

 _"Yoosung Kim."_

Yoosung sat straight up in his chair, still wiping tears from his eyes. He felt a shiver run down his spine. Whoever this person was, they were wearing a voice modifier. He couldn't tell if it was Seven that was messing with him, or maybe, just maybe, the entire group of agents that joined RFA. "Who are you?"

 _"My name is unknown."_

"Unknown? You don't know your name? Or... do you not want me to know your name?"

No reply.

"Alright, what do you want?"

 _"Come outside of your dorm now."_

"W-what?" He nearly jumped out of his seat.

 _"I said, come outside. Unless you want your little RFA friends to be injured, I rec-"_

"No! Don't you dare touch any of them. I'm coming. Hold on."

 _"I will see you very soon, Yoosung."_

 _Click._

Yoosung looked outside of the window, basking in the bright sunlight once more. He shivered as he reached for a jacket, putting it on, before walking outside of his room. He grabbed his keys, and walked towards the door, before freezing.

Something felt very, very wrong.

He looked through the little peephole, his eyes filled with curiosity.

His amethyst eyes met mint eyes.

He jumped back as the person on the other side of the door laughed. "Yoosung Kim~! Open your door, now!"

Yoosung stood up, shaking, from fear or from anger, he wasn't so sure. "Why should I?"

"Hahaha - Do it, or else I harm RFA."

He walked closer to the door, his hand reaching for the doorknob. It was shaking as it unlocked the first lock. He was taking shorter breaths, he felt his heartbeat suddenly go from normal to racing, and he was covered in droplets of sweat.

"Now unlock the second lock. Do that, and I'll tell you about Rika's real death. What truly happened to her."

Yoosung froze, his hand hovering over the second lock.

He knew?

His hand opened the second lock, faster than ever before. He nearly slammed the door open, his eyes narrowing, his mouth being pulled into a straight line. A loud crash was heard as books and more books fell onto the floor, but Yoosung was now facing a tall, white haired man who was smiling.

"Tell me! What do you know?"

The man smiled. "Why, you'll find out very soon." He took a step closer, his hand wrapped around a syringe. His other hand was wrapped around Yoosung's arm as he pulled the blonde closer to him.

"W-what are you doing?" He tried to push away, only to be pulled back into the man's embrace.

"I'm taking you to paradise," he whispered, "but I need to do something first."

Yoosung was about to scream for help when he felt something being injected into his neck. "What...?"

"Sleep tight."

The last thing he heard before fainting was the man's screeching laughter.

* * *

 ** _Agency of New York Headquarters  
_** ** _Floor Two - Announcement Hall  
_** ** _February 2nd, 2017  
_** ** _6:03 PM EST_**

The Announcement Hall, usually empty except for the occasional group of agents, usually lit up by warm, yellow lights, was now filled with agents, all standing in a large crowd around the room. On the platform were the heads of all the groups, the nine heads standing, shoulder to shoulder. They all looked down at the hoard of agents as bright blue lights flashed above them all, highlighting the grim faces of all the agents.

 _Code Blue. Please report to the Announcement Hall right away. Code Blue. Please report to the Announcement Hall right away._

The robotic voice continued to say the same sentences, over and over again, until it was drilled into everyone's head. More and more agents entered the grand hall, looking at the ceiling. The gold of the ceiling once glittered from the chandelier's lights, but now, it seemed to reflect the blue lights quite harshly, temporarily blinding any agent that dared to look up.

The sirens continued to wail as the same, calm robotic voice continued to say its scripted lines. The agents continued to flood in, each looking around at the hall, still in awe at the amount of paintings that covered the once blank walls. All of the agents rarely came here, since the Announcement Hall was only opened if there was an emergency, or, well, if there were any important announcements.

Eventually, all of the agents found their groupmates, their closest friends. Some of the agents would even consider their group family, excluding the heads, who were usually the most distant from the agents. Chatter began to fill the grand hall, gradually getting louder and louder as all the agents continued to enter.

Finally, one agent entered the hall and slammed the doors of the hall. The sound of the doors, both much, much taller than the agent himself, created a loud _boom_ that echoed across the entire hall. All of the agents fell silent as the one who closed the door turned around to face the heads.

"All 224 agents are in this hall. Please begin."

He then walked towards his own group of agents as 215 heads turned to face the leaders of their group.

The leader of group 1, considered the head of all the heads, stepped forward. Being the eldest one, but also the most experienced, he stood in the middle, his head held up high. He walked almost like a king, reaching for the microphones, and handing one, each to the heads, standing shoulder to shoulder.

As soon as all of the microphones were handed out, he pulled out his phone and pressed a button, silencing the alarms and the sirens. The lights returned back to their warm yellow glow as he cleared his throat.

"Hello. Thank you for coming here today. For some of you newer agents, my name is Joseph. That is all you need to know."

The heads of group 6 and 7, both twins, elbowed each other and smiled at each other. Joseph was always so... formal compared to these two.

He turned around to shoot a glare at both of them, who then suddenly became quiet. He faced the agents once more, one hand pulling on his suit jacket to remove all of the wrinkles. He looked down at every agent, making sure to meet their eyes with his own icy blue eyes.

"We are here to address our concern about the recent... RFA chat." Joseph glanced back at Jitae, who was standing there, his attention on Joseph. He had decided to stick with his glasses, not trusting his shaky hands to put on his contacts. However, out of all the agents, he seemed the most calm at this time, his green eyes only slightly narrowed.

He returned his attention back to the agents, putting on a shaky smile. While Joseph himself was naturally a calm person, something about this chat scared him. He took a breath before continuing to speak.

"We must now discuss our next action, together. To figure out our next moves. Because this failed mission... this affects all of us."

At the mention of a failed mission, the heads of the agents, as well as the heads themselves, turned to glance at Jitae, who continued to stand there. He was one of the taller, more slender agents, too, so he stood out in the row of leaders. He took a slight breath, his arms by his side, still fairly calm.

"So, let us speak and decide, together."

Joseph stepped back into the line of heads, as 215 voices said, "Together."

He raised the microphone to his mouth once more, asking, in a very, very polite voice, "Would any of the heads like to start?"

It was clear by how he stared at Jitae that he wanted him to start the conversation. To explain why she failed this mission. However, he continued to stand there, green eyes staring back at blue eyes. Joseph then returned his attention to the group of agents, who were dead silent, but expecting Jitae to say something as well. The tension in the air was obvious to all of them, and Jitae could smell the tension.

Although... tension never had a scent, did it?

The head of group three stepped forward, holding her microphone so tightly that her knuckles were white. Her heels made a loud noise on the tiled floor as she stepped forward, clearly annoyed by Jitae's silence. Her short, black hair bounced up and down as her black eyes glared at Jitae.

"Hmph," she said, fixing her white designer jacket. All of the agents looked up at her, some of the agents' mouths open, shocked by her beauty. She turned completely to face Jitae, holding the mic up, prepared to say something.

"You're just standing there, aren't you? Just standing there?" She walked closer to him as he continued to stand in his own spot, his green eyes refusing to break eye contact with her. "Why, huh? This is all your fault! And you're doing absolutely nothing about it!"

She turned to face the agents, her face red. "Blame him! Blame it all on him!"

A voice in the crowd screamed, "Yeah! Blame Eric!"

Joseph tapped his microphone a few times. "Please do not start a ruckus."

The black haired head turned to face him, bowing slightly. "I apologize, Joseph." She faced the agents once more. "I want you to think of this. If he didn't ask her to go to Seoul to get rid of whoever that agent guy - Lucifer, right? - we would all be alright. Any other agent but her would have worked. Am I right?"

"Yeah!" A chorus of voices screamed in agreement.

She stepped back in her position, smirking slightly. "Finished."

"Next?" Joseph asked.

Jitae himself stepped forward, holding the microphone up to his mouth. His eyes were perfectly calm, unlike hers, and he took a deep breath before starting to speak, despite all of the "boo"s that he heard as soon as he took a step. He pushed up his glasses.

"Cordelia, while I understand that you are unhappy with my efforts, please understand that this meeting should be used to find a solution. Not to put blame on others. However, I will dispute your point, while trying to portray my ideas for solving this issue."

He turned to face the agents once more, ignoring Cordelia's growing blush. "Agent 621, please do not start a fistfight with 912. Just because you two have differing opinions does not mean that you two have to fight it out."

The two agents, both standing all the way in the back of the room, turned to face Jitae, their eyes clearly fearful.

"Thank you."

He looked down at the agents who were standing closest to the stage, some of their eyes filled with anger, others who nodded in full support of Jitae himself. He took a breath before starting to speak.

"I suppose I should start off with why I chose 144 for the mission. She was talented. Her first mission was very, very difficult, and she succeeded, although she was only thirteen years old. She had never failed a mission ever since, until now. But we have all had our failures. The consequence of her failure is just more severe than most of yours."

He cleared his throat, glancing at Cordelia, who was even more red than before. "I realize that some of you believe that I am not doing anything to help in this situation. I have received emails from multiple agents asking me why I did what I did in the chat. I believe that doing nothing is stronger and more supportive of her than doing something."

"Supportive?" someone screamed. "You're going to lead us to our demise!"

"Agents have feelings," he continued, his eyes focused on the agents. "We all do. Just because we're agents does not mean we're not human. We feel pain. We feel sorrow. We feel joy. And most importantly, we feel love."

"Take a look at the agents around you. The agents that have grown on you. The agents that you have grown on. Take a look at your group members. Those that have saved your life. Those that you have saved the lives of. If you do not feel anything for them, you are lying. No matter how long you've been here - a year, five years, a day... you must have developed a bond with at least one agent in ANY."

"144... I do not believe what she did was wrong. One cannot hide their feelings for long. After hiding their true feelings and putting it all behind a mask..."

"...It eventually all spills out at some point."

He glanced at Cordelia once more, who was glaring back at him. His eyes continued to remain calm, even when an agent screamed, "It's still her fault though! She had so much time..."

"I remind you, 192, that we were going against a professional hacker. Without Unknown's little tip, we probably would have never had a chance of succeeding in the first place. Agents know agents very well. We know each others' secrets. Tips. Tricks. How to stay hidden. How to go against everything agents throw at you. We know everything, and we know how to counter that everything."

The red-haired agent, 192, was red in the face as well. "Alright, fine. Why didn't you send someone to help her?"

"You were in my group. You knew exactly what we were doing. I tried to get other groups to help as well, but they refused my offer." A few of the heads looked down at their feet, except for Cordelia, who became as red as a tomato. "Sending more agents to Seoul would have been an issue. They would have been easier to track. It would have been harder for them to hide themselves from SPA. We did our best here, and she did her best there. That is all I wish to say."

Joseph glanced at Jitae.

"Finished." Jitae glanced back at Joseph, nodding, before returning to his spot. As soon as he stepped back in his spot, all of the agents burst out into chatter again, unable to decide which side they were on.

Some of them looked at Jitae, their eyes filled with respect and gratitude. Others looked at Jitae, their eyes filled with hatred and anger. Cordelia herself glared at Jitae, who refused to glare back at Cordelia.

Joseph held the microphone to his mouth once more. "Silence, please."

The chatter only became louder from there.

Jitae's agency phone vibrated in his pocket as Joseph continued to try to silence the screaming agents. He took it out, pushing his glasses up once more, and quickly unlocked it, ignoring the fact that Cordelia was still glaring at him.

A message.

From the RFA app, too?

He opened the app, hoping that the text was from Art or someone that he knew. His wishes weren't granted.

 **Unknown** : Eric? I'm glad to finally be able to talk with you!

He glared at his own phone, prepared to type a response. However, before he could even start typing, Unknown sent a photo to him, followed by another text. He opened the photo, being sure to turn the phone away from the other heads, who were starting to bicker.

He felt chills run down his spine.

Unknown, or Saeran, was probably driving a van, it seemed. And in the very corner of the van, there was a figure. He was tied up with rope, his eyes closed, his head leaning against the back of the van. His mouth was covered with duct tape, his blonde hair all messed up, although there were still two pins in his hair. His green jacket was half off, revealing his striped shirt underneath.

His sneakers were dirty, the white parts becoming more brown and the blue parts of his shoes starting to, well, lose color. His pants were slightly ripped, although Jitae didn't want to think about that too much. People these days enjoyed ripped pants, didn't they?

But something about those rips didn't seem intentional. He zoomed in closer, checking for any injuries. This kid...

Yoosung. From RFA. He remembered checking every profile and storing it somewhere in his head. But why would Unknown target him?

Maybe...

Art was right. Maybe the reason why Unknown targeted Luciel was because he wanted to take down RFA as a whole. And now that ANY was in the RFA chat...

Did that mean that Unknown wanted to get rid of ANY, too?

It didn't make sense to him. It didn't add up.

He closed the photo, ignoring the bickering around him. He then locked his phone after reading the last message. Even though it would be considered rude to leave in the middle of an emergency meeting, he needed to warn Art about this. Or anyone. He needed to warn Art or RFA about what happened to Yoosung.

Luckily, he knew a secret exit in this hall that would bring him outside. He walked down the steps, nobody noticing that he was leaving in the middle of the meeting, and ran to the very corner of the room, feeling for a little panel that he would be able to push. Eventually, he felt something slide, revealing a hole that he could walk through.

He carefully closed the door behind him, pulling his phone out once more. The message after the photo... it felt wrong. Very, very wrong.

 _"I'm going to have so much fun with him~!"_

* * *

 _ **RFA Text Messages  
**_ _ **February 3rd, 2017  
**_ _ **8:15 AM KST**_

 **Unknown** : 45 minutes left.

 **Unknown** : I suppose I'll give you a little clue...

 **Art** : What, huh? Is it going to put me into another terrible situation?

 **Unknown** : It might.

He sends the photo of Yoosung, the same one that he sent Eric.

 **Art** : Is that Yoosung?!

 **Art** : Let him go, now. Before I find you.

 **Unknown** : I'm terrified.

 **Unknown** : 44 minutes. Do you want to continue threatening me or receive a clue?

 **Art** : What? Tell me.

 **Unknown** : Seochan Cafe.

 **Art** : ...Really?

 **Unknown** : I don't know. Go there, and you'll find out.

 **Art** : You want me to go to Luciel's house?! You're insane.

 **Art** : ...

 **Art** : You're not replying to me.

 **Art** : Fine, then. I'll see you soon.

 **Art** : Very

 **Art** : Very

 **Art** : Soon.

* * *

 **Thank you, OSAMA, for your review once again! I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter!**

 **Please, please tell me if anything is OOC. I'm going to be using the characters much more starting here, so I want to know if something is very off! Thank you!**

 **That's all I have to say! Thank you for reading!**

 **-Teri**


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 _ **Seochan Road  
**_ _ **Underground, Level 1  
February 3rd, 2017  
8:57 AM KST**_

707 was back in his room again, the door shut and locked behind him. The various screens in front of him were all displaying lines and lines of code, appearing and disappearing very, very quickly. The red haired man occasionally looked up to glance at the code, before returning his attention to a single laptop, which had even more lines of code on its screen. His fingers, drenched in sweat, flew across the keyboard in hopes of solving RFA's problems.

Behind him was his bed, and next to his bed was a little drawer, with a pile of papers on it. He stopped typing to glance at it, sighing. He would have to hold off on the agency's work until he finished removing all of the ANY agents from the RFA chatroom. He turned back to face the screen, stretching a little bit, before typing once more.

Droplets of sweat covered Seven's face as he continued to mutter the text on his screen. He wasn't exactly sure if the sweat was because of the extreme heat in his house, or if it was from nervousness.

Occasionally, he'd stop and press a few keys, the color of the text changing from the familiar green to a neon blue. He'd scan the lines once more, seeking for anything out of the ordinary, before pressing some keys once again, the text changing back into its original colors.

He had to worry about a lot of things.

He had to worry about getting rid of these ANY agents, and Art herself, even though she was their party planner. This was a difficult task, since Unknown was sure to plant plenty of surprises in order to make Seven's job much, much harder. Seven nearly cursed thinking about Unknown and his antics, and finally understood what hackers targeting Seven himself felt. He enjoyed doing the same thing as Unknown, hiding many secrets and surprises in the endless lines of code.

It scared him to think that Unknown had almost the same hacking style as himself.

Next, he had to worry about ANY attacks on RFA, hence the reason why he'd switch between blue text and green text. He had to made sure that the RFA database was safe and secure, and that nobody would attack it. It seemed fine at this moment, but he still had to be very careful. Anything could go wrong at this point.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing.

Art.

She seemed so carefree. So kind. She didn't seem like the person to kill because of a mission. He narrowed his eyes further, trying to feel anger for her, but that didn't work very well. Sure, he was slightly angry because of what she did, but otherwise, he felt pity for her.

She was an agent. She knew the consequences of not following her mission, and yet, she refused to complete her mission because of him. She knew very well what would happen, and yet...

He sighed. All this for him. It felt nice, but wrong, knowing that because of him, everyone was in danger.

He started to type faster and faster when he realized that Art could have just killed him, and none of this would have happened in the first place. If she had just stabbed him in the cafe, sure, he would be dead, but Yoosung, Jaehee, Zen, Jumin, V... they all would have been safe.

Seven continued to type, refusing to believe that Unknown was the one who let all of these agents in. What the hell did he have against RFA? Why would he hire ANY to get rid of Seven? Why?

So many questions, but yet, no answers at all.

He scanned the lines, his hands frozen and hovering over the keyboard. Maybe... if he deleted these lines of code, they would just disappear.

"Alright... 863 lines have to go..."

He pressed the Backspace key, a small smile on his face, but sadness at the same time. Did he do it? Did he get rid of the ANY agents...

...and Art?

 _Shit!_

As soon as those 863 lines disappeared, 2481 lines took their place again. Unknown's little trick.

A loud breath came out of his mouth. He took off his headphones and looked up at the ceiling. He wondered what time it was, since all he knew was that it was probably morning and he should actually get some sleep for once. His eyelids felt heavy, but he refused to rest until he finished this job.

He took more and more deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, but also trying to distract himself from the extreme heat. Although his hoodie was off and on his bed, he felt like he was going to drown in his sweat at some point.

 _Bang! Bang!_

Someone was knocking loudly.

Seven nearly jumped up from his chair, but only, very slowly, stood up from his chair. He walked closer to the door, his hand fumbling for the lock, before opening it to walk into the living room.

He looked up at the screens hanging from the ceiling. All of them were CCTV footage or his door, his garage, and Rika's apartment. He ignored the one for Rika's apartment and only looked at the one for his door.

Two people were standing outside. One of them had a mask on, while the other figure seemed to be unconscious and tied up, for some reason. He widened his eyes, trying to take a closer look at the two of them, but the masked figure must have seen the camera. He was using his body to cover the tied up person, and his back was facing the camera, not his face.

"Door, who is outside?"

 _"RFA Member Yoosung Kim and unidentified member is outside. Door HP is at 99999997."_

Yoosung?

He knew that Yoosung didn't have white hair, and he was certain that Yoosung would have yelled for Seven if he was outside, by himself, which could only mean that Yoosung was... the figure tied up. He widened his eyes further, rushing to his room to grab some sort of a weapon.

He was lucky that the agency gave every agent a handgun in case they were attacked. He dropped to the floor, reaching for under the bed, feeling for the unfamiliar texture of the gun. It took him a few tries, but eventually he pulled it out of his bed.

It was black, and rested comfortably in his hand. He shivered, sweat droplets flying everywhere.

Unidentified member...

Was it Unknown? Or an ANY agent?

He walked out of room, checking to see if his weapon was fully loaded or not. It was.

"Luciel Choi! Open the door immediately or Yoosung Kim will be the one taking the bullets I intended for you!"

 _What?!_

He glanced at the CCTV footage, hoping that whoever this person was happened to be joking around. His heart nearly stopped when he saw that this person and Yoosung were both facing the camera, the unidentified member holding a gun directly to Yoosung's head.

His mint eyes were cold, but mocking at the same time.

He was serious.

Yoosung didn't look terrified at all, but then again, he was asleep in the man's arms.

The man's arms seemed to be very thin and weak, so Seven wasn't exactly sure how he carried Yoosung all the way here. However, he didn't want to worry about that at this moment. He turned the safety off of his gun and ran to the door, preparing to shoot if anything went wrong. He stood to the side of the door, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Door, open!"

The metal barrier separating Seven from Yoosung and the masked man slowly slid to the side.

Seven was holding his breath, waiting for the two to enter. His hands hurt from holding his gun so tightly, but he refused to let go of it for even a split second. Sweat was starting to drip from his nose, but he ignored it. He continued to stay in this position, his golden eyes locked on the door, his knees slightly bent, prepared to move if anything went wrong.

How long has it been? He wasn't so sure. All he heard was his own heavy, loud breathing over everything else.

That is, until he heard the sound of laughter outside.

Seven nearly took a step back after hearing the screechy, piercing laughter that he assumed came from the masked man's mouth. It was loud and it sounded strange, almost as if the guy outside was insane. But, at the same time, it was... familiar? He shook his head. It wasn't possible that he knew the masked man.

Right?

"There's no point in hiding from me!" He followed the sentence by another round of his maniacal laughter, which forced chills to run down Seven's back.

Seven gripped his gun even tighter than he had before, replying, "Bring him in and leave. But who are you?"

There was silence outside, until he said, quietly, "Who am I? Hahaha... an interesting question. Throw your weapon on the ground and then you'll find out."

Seven immediately glanced at his gun, relaxing all of his hand muscles. It was tempting... throw his weapon on the ground, and then he'd find out. He looked out the door once again, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man and Yoosung once more. He shook his head, realizing that those two wouldn't appear in his field of vision until he dropped the gun.

He closed his eyes as the abnormally loud sound of something falling to the ground was heard.

"Good."

He immediately backed away from the door, his one and only weapon lying there, pathetically, on the ground. He looked down at his sore hands, which were shaking, from fear or from anger, he wasn't sure.

His eyes rested on the door as the man walked in, dragging a blonde figure right behind him.

Something about the man seemed even more familiar to him, but Seven couldn't put a finger on it. His golden eyes met the man's mint eyes.

He continued to back up until he crashed into the red couch. Those eyes were ridiculously familiar to him, although he wasn't used to seeing them burning with anger like this. He blinked a couple of times, wondering where he could have seen them.

The door started to close.

The man took off his mask, effortlessly, with one hand, revealing his dark smile.

And then Seven knew.

"No... wh-what happened to you?"

This was his brother.

His eyes weren't gold anymore. His hair wasn't red, like his, anymore. The clothing he wore... he used to wear button-down shirts and black pants, but now... he was wearing a leather jacket, half of it off, revealing a tattoo. He was wearing a red tank top underneath, as well as a spiked bracelet.

His eyes, once so kind, yet broken, were now filled with hatred.

His brother picked up Yoosung's body, his face turning red from the sudden effort required. His arms shaking, he walked over to the couch and _dropped_ Yoosung onto it, seemingly not caring about the health and well-being of the RFA members.

He turned around, facing Seven, who was starting to sweat even more from this surprise. "Why are you even asking? You know perfectly well the answer."

Seven was standing one couch away from his brother. He wanted to reach out and pull his brother into a hug, but it was clear that he would probably be shot by simply moving. He continued to stand there, frozen, leaning on the couch, not trusting his own shaky legs to carry his weight.

"S-Saeran..."

Saeran snarled, his grip tightening on his gun. "Do _not_ call me that! You abandoned me; you have no right to call me by that name anymore!"

Even with the additional support of the couch, Seven felt himself fall to the ground, onto his knees. He looked down at his hands, which were shaking even more than usual. "No... I never abandoned you."

"Lies!" The white haired man walked over and bent down to address Seven, waving his gun around. "You knew perfectly well what you did. You left me! All by myself, with that _monster_. What were you thinking? 'Oh, I'm strong and capable unlike my weak, weak brother! I should leave and be selfish instead of helping him.' Am I right?"

"No! V... V told me that you were safe." Seven looked up, his eyes wide. His breaths were short, quick, and he continued to sit on the ground, shaking his head occasionally. "You're not you... I never abandoned you."

"V... that liar. He did this to you, huh? That liar... that son of a bitch tricked you into thinking that you were doing the right thing, huh?"

"V would never lie to me about this. Something's happened to you, Saeran..."

Saeran stood straight up, his voice suddenly being raised. "My name is Unknown, not Saeran!"

Seven looked back down at the ground, his entire body shaking. "No... someone's done this to you. Someone changed you. I-I'm going to fix you."

"Fix me? Ha!" He turned away, facing Yoosung, his mouth curled into a sneer. "You couldn't even help me in the first place. How are you going to fix me?"

"I'm going to fix you." He was quiet, and he seemed to be talking to himself more than he was to Saeran.

"Continue lying to yourself, Luciel."

"I am not lying to you, or myself. I will fix you... I will find whoever did this, too. I promise..."

Saeran started to shake, laughing quietly to himself, but Seven didn't bother to look up.

"Empty promises? Haven't you made enough of them already?"

 _Have I? I-_ _I don't think so..._

Noticing Seven's sudden pause in his shaking, as well as his continued silence, Saeran turned around and managed a smile, his slender arms crossed. "I'm surprised you don't question why I'm here."

"It's obvious. Whoever changed you wants to to defeat RFA."

"You were the one who changed me."

"I-I'm sorry, alright!" Seven jumped up, feeling tears start to well in his eyes. His brother took a step backwards, his eyes widening from his sudden outburst. Eventually, Saeran managed a smile when Seven looked back down at the floor, defeated. "But... I would never do this to you. Who? Who did this?"

There was a sense of urgency in his voice, that Saeran had never heard in his brother before, except for maybe once or twice, when he was critically injured. He glanced at the blonde, who continued to sleep on the couch, somehow not awake even after Seven's outburst.

"The Savior saved me. She's giving me a chance to-"

Seven interrupted, his voice quiet. "To what? To kill the members of the organization that I'm part of?"

"Yes, but I suppose I have to do more than just to get rid of you seven now."

"Who did this... to you? Since when were you ever like this?"

Saeran looked at the door, continuing to smile. Ignoring what Seven asked, he continued, "I have 231 people to remove now. Although my first priority will always be the original RFA members."

Seven blinked a few times.

 _231 people? Wait..._

He looked right at his brother, taking a step closer. "You're targeting ANY, too? But-"

"She failed. There is always punishment for failure."

"You're targeting her entire agency!"

"And? As someone did say, the consequence of her failure is just more severe than the some others'."

Seven shook his head, his eyes darting to his weapon on the ground. He looked back up at his smiling, mint-eyed brother, shaking his head even more, which sent droplets of sweat everywhere. No. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

This was his brother, after all.

"Then, why is Yoosung here? Why are you still talking to me so casually, if you wanted RFA to be... eliminated?"

His brother looked right into Seven's golden eyes. "I have a little bird I want to talk to."

"What are you talking about?"

"Hey, Seven?! Are you in here?!"

 _What...?!_

The twins' heads turned to face the door, one's face turning into a look of absolute horror, while the other's face broke out into an even wider grin. That voice was easily recognizable for Seven, since he had heard it in a cafe just a day ago. And for Saeran... he didn't even need to look at the screens with the CCTV footage to know that the person outside, screaming for the door to be opened, was Art.

 _"Please say, 'Hacker god is the best' in Arabic."_

Seven turned to face his brother, blinking faster than ever. He pushed his glasses up, his mouth open in absolute disbelief. "Is that your 'little bird'? What are you-"

His question was interrupted by someone, clearly screaming something in Arabic. He froze, glancing at the door, while Saeran's grin grew, slowly.

"Yes, that is. I'm glad we'll be able to have a nice, long talk with each other."

The sound of the door sliding open was heard.

Seven's expression changed from one of disbelief to one of sadness. "Why?"

The room was silent, at least, until someone ran right in, their footsteps echoing in the room.

He didn't even need to look at the person herself. He knew, just by looking at his brother's expression, that it was Art.

Saeran's face was a mixture of joy, excitement, but also realization that he was going against two professional agents, one who was probably armed and one that definitely wasn't. Seven heard the _click_ as he realized that the safety of the gun was on this _entire time_.

Or maybe he was turning it off for Art. But that didn't make sense.

"Oh, 144! Take a seat. We have a lot to talk about."

"What is Yoosung doing here? And what-"

Seven closed his eyes as Saeran said, his voice with a hint of warning in it, "Take a seat. And drop your weapon, please. It'd be nice to talk without worrying for my own safety."

He leaned against the couch, his fingers just grazing Yoosung's skin. He took a shaky breath, especially after hearing the loud clatter of something dropping to the ground.

"Seven, are you okay?"

Her voice.

It was so gentle, so caring, and yet, Seven didn't believe it. What if it was an act again, just to mess with him?

What if... what if things became even worse because of her and her agent status?

He wanted to believe her. He wanted to reach out for her and pull her into his embrace, and say that nothing was right, but everything will be. Because she was there, willing to destroy everyone and everything just because she loved him. It felt nice to have someone care for him, and he hated that thought. He was being selfish. Art was being selfish, too.

"I'm fine," he replied, his voice laced with poison. He opened his eyes, managing a glare at Art. "Worry about yourself and whatever the hell you're doing first."

He hoped he was imagining it, but she seemed to flinch once he was finished with his statement.

It was clear that Art ran out of the apartment in a hurry.

Her backpack wasn't even fully on, the collar of her jacket was inside-out, her sweat from running here mixed with the new sweat that appeared because of the heat, and her hair was in a much, much messier ponytail. Her hands were shaky, as were her legs, as she walked to a nearby wooden chair, originally used to hold Honey Buddha Chips until Vanderwood picked them all up, and sat in it.

"Don't ask him if he's okay or not."

"Do you have a problem with me making sure he's okay?"

Saeran's smile faded, one hand fixing his black jacket. "Of course I do. Don't argue with me."

Seven finally decided to sit on the couch, gently moving Yoosung so that he could have some space. "Sit, Saeran. Maybe then, we can talk about whatever you wanted to talk about."

"I said, don't call me that."

Art raised an eyebrow. "Saeran?"

"Luciel..." Saeran growled.

"Fine. I'll stop. Anyways, what are we here for? To discuss your little plans for RFA and ANY?"

Art stood up, the sound of the wooden chair scratching against his floor heard by all in the room. "For ANY? What are you planning to do with them?"

"I see I have turned the tides, hm?" Saeran laughed. "But don't worry, little bird."

"Why do you keep calling me little bird?"

He sighed, as Seven leaned back into the couch, looking at the two weapons, lying on top of each other, near the door. He could probably make a run for it, right? But he wouldn't be able to shoot his own brother, nor would he allow Art to...

"Who were those two that introduced you to ANY? Eric and Tol?"

"What are you going to do with them?"

Her voice suddenly deepened, and Seven had to glance up to look at Art. His heart jumped a little bit, surprised that such a voice could come from someone who he thought spoke fairly quietly. She was glaring right at Saeran, her black eyes clearly filled with anger and hatred.

"With him, you mean."

Art's glare disappeared, replaced with a blank look. "With him. I keep on forgetting that he's... not here."

"Of course. And wasn't he the one that knew that you used to be a Pokemon fan?"

Silence.

"Your favorite Pokemon was Articuno, right? And you were so happy that 144 was open, and that you were able to take a new name?"

Seven sat there, not wanting to say anything in case the gun's safety was indeed off. He did, however, look right at Art, who was shifting in her seat, clearly uncomfortable by how much Saeran knew.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, before looking back at Saeran. "Where's Rika?"

 _What?!_

This was a surprising twist for Seven himself, who backed up in his seat, looking down at Yoosung to make sure that he was still sleeping. He looked right at Art, saying, "Why are you asking that?"

Art glanced at him, nodding slightly. _Trust me_ , it said.

But no matter how much Seven wanted to trust her, it was harder than it seemed.

Saeran frowned. "Do not say her name."

"Rika Kim. More commonly known as Sunghee Kim. _Where is she?_ "

"Lies! You're just like him, you know?" Saeran tightened his grip on his gun, and although he didn't say who "him" was, Seven knew.

His own brother was calling him a liar.

Art continued to sit there. "I want my question answered, Saeran."

"She's not here," Seven said, looking straight at Art. She opened her mouth, clearly wanting to say something, before shutting it. His arm, instinctively, wrapped around Yoosung, who let out a groan, which was stifled by the tape over his mouth.

Saeran turned to face Yoosung. "Is he waking up?"

"I don't know. I don't even know why you tied him up." His hand reached for the ropes, starting to untangle the knot that Saeran made, but he froze as soon as he heard a loud _bang_ in his own home.

"Don't touch him."

Seven looked back up at Saeran, who held the gun directly at the wall. He didn't even have to look at the wall to realize that his brother just fired a bullet.

So the safety was off when it was just him, his brother, and Yoosung.

 _But why_ _?_

Art was on the edge of her seat, her teeth gritted. Seven looked at her, knowing how she felt. It was the need to do something, but also the realization that she _couldn't_ do anything. Her hands were gripping the edge of the wooden chair. And he knew that his own hands were gripping the rope used to tie Yoosung up.

"Get out."

Seven thought that the statement would have come out of his own mouth, but no, it came from Art's.

He looked up at Art, who was too busy glaring right at Saeran to even notice that Seven was staring at her. Her lips were pressed into a hard, firm line.

Saeran laughed. "Why are you trying to tell me to get out, _Varia_? If you want me to leave, then you have to as well, since I'm sure that Luciel hates us both equally."

"That's not true!" Seven interrupted, standing up, letting go of the rope. "I don't hate you two equally!"

 _Varia... Did he just call her Varia?_

Art turned pale, but noticing that Saeran's full attention was on Seven, she stood up and slid on the ground, reaching for the guns. The thing was, her dive was loud, causing Saeran to suddenly turn around.

"What- What are you doing?!"

Seven flinched as he heard the sound of another bullet being shot. He looked up at Art, whose eyes were glaring right at Saeran once again, both guns in her hands. He looked at her, searching for any injuries, as well as his brother, before coming to the conclusion that Art's pants were just slightly ripped, and bleeding just a bit.

His brother's aim wasn't bad, he had to admit.

But he didn't want to worry about that. He felt himself take a step forward, as Saeran took one good look at her weapons.

"I suppose I'll leave you two alone here, hm?" He lowered his weapon. "If you want more information, her real name is Varia Lee. Use that to your advantage."

He started to walk towards the door, as Seven said, "Don't leave. Who's doing this to you? Tell me!"

"The Savior is. Door, open."

The door responded to his voice, even though it was different from Seven's voice. Maybe because it was... similar? Seven didn't know. He wanted to change that, although maybe it was better for his brother and Art to be in separate places.

"Don't leave yet. You still have plenty to tell us!" Art screamed.

The sound of a click was heard as Seven looked up, noticing that Art was aiming straight for him. "No! Don't think about shooting my _brother_ , Art!"

He stepped forward, suddenly rushing towards the door and pushing Saeran out. He couldn't let his brother get hurt. He couldn't. Not again.

Art widened her eyes, stepping back and looking down. Both guns fell on the ground. Her eyes were closed, and she leaned against the wall, taking quick, heavy breaths. His brother. That Saeran, Unknown, whoever he was, was his brother.

The door started to slide shut as Saeran turned around, glaring at Seven once more. Seven himself had widened eyes, meeting his narrowed ones, and it was clear that Seven was on the verge of breaking.

Saeran started to walk away, the door finally closing, leaving Seven there, at the door, tears starting to fall down his cheeks.

 _I'll save you, Saeran, I promise._

 _And this won't be another one of my empty promises._

* * *

 **Character sheet will be updated soon. Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **-Teri**


	14. Chapter 13

**I recommend you read Chapter 12 if you've somehow skipped it, because I'm going to apply the name change here (For Art and potentially for Unknown).**

 **Thank you for all your reviews! I greatly appreciate them.**

 **Also, I'm going to say something here:**

 **Yes, what Saeran is doing right now is OOC. Quite OOC, actually, but I didn't exactly think of that when I first started the story. I'm fairly certain that many of you think that as well, so I'd just like to say this: I'd love to fix that issue, but by fixing it, I'd have to change the entire story. I hope you understand why I will most likely not edit the previous chapters to fix this character issue.**

 **But, I will be editing previous chapters over the weekend (insert cheering because it's finally the weekend) for clarity.**

 **Thanks! I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **(Self-insert warning: 199)**

* * *

Chapter 13

 _ **Seochan Road  
**_ _ **Underground, Level 1  
**_ _ **February 3rd, 2017  
**_ _ **9:17 AM KST**_

"I'm fine, Seven."

"You're bleeding. Now stop fidgeting and let me bandage it."

Varia was back in her seat, her fingers tapping on the arm of the couch. Sweat drenched her black shirt and pants, although Seven did cut the pants to check the bullet graze. Her eyes were focused on his red hair, messy, and each strand of it covered in sweat. She looked to the side, where Yoosung was still resting peacefully, his head leaning against the couch, his mouth wide open, drool still coming out of it.

Her backpack was still on her back, especially since she had planned to leave for Rika's apartment right after the entire incident with Unknown.

Saeran.

His brother.

As soon as he pointed it out, she saw the similarities. Their face structure was identical. Their hair were equally messy. Both of them had the exact same look when they were angry. Their voices were similar, although one more more screechy than the other. She clearly remembered dropping both weapons to the ground afterwards, because once she saw it...

How could she kill Saeran if she couldn't even kill Seven?

Sure, Saeran had white hair and teal eyes. But as soon as she looked at his face, she would immediately connect him to Seven. It wasn't possible to just shoot or stab Saeran, since she knew that things wouldn't exactly go well if she tried.

She knew that things wouldn't go well, especially if she succeeded.

Seven clearly loved and cared for Saeran, no matter what his brother did before.

She looked around the room. The CCTV footage for Rika's apartment was being shown on the screens. There was one for outside the door, and one showing an entire collection of cars. His garage, maybe? It made sense, although she didn't understand why he had so many designer cars.

She sighed, sitting still as Seven reached for a bottle of clear liquid, before pouring it on a cotton pad. Without any warning, he wiped the injured area with it, which caused Varia to grit her teeth. A burning sensation came from her thigh, and spread all the way to her toes and her chest.

"You're still bleeding a lot." Seven's hands, long and slender, reached for more tissues to wipe away the blood, which continued to pour from her injury.

"I swear, I'm fine, Seven. Are you okay?"

Seven stopped wiping and kneeled there for a second. She heard a breath come from Seven, before he replied, "I said, I'm fine. How many times have I told you that?"

Varia flinched again after hearing those words. Everything that Seven said after the Unknown incident had an edge to it, and she wasn't surprised. If he hated her, then so be it. She deserved it in the first place.

At the same time, she wanted to reach out to him. Tell him that everything would be fine, that he should forgive her, because she wanted to fix it all. She bit back her tongue. No. These desires were selfish. She should never think these thoughts, because she wasn't considering anyone else's feelings or safety. Wanting to be with Seven, wanting him to forgive her... those were dangerous thoughts.

"Many. I just wanted to make sure."

There was absolute silence in the room as Seven picked up the pair of scissors once more and started to cut around the pants. _Snip_. He made a cut.

Varia raised an eyebrow. "What are you-"

He looked right up at her, his usually warm eyes absolutely cold. "Why did you lunge for the guns?"

He continued to cut, as Varia sat there, her mouth in a straight line. _That's true. Why did I lunge for it?_

 _I didn't know that Unkn- Saeran was his brother at the time._

 _I figured that to end this game..._

 _I had to kill the one behind it all._

She didn't bother to answer his question, but he continued to cut, the cuts surprisingly straight. He finally finished with a final _snip_ , and reached for the bandages. However, as soon as he turned around to face Varia again, she was starting to walk towards the door.

"What are you doing?"

She turned around, her ponytail flinging sweat on the floor. "I'm leaving. Thanks for your help."

"Don't be an idiot, and sit back down. Your pants look terrible, and you're still bleeding."

"They only look terrible because you cut them." She had a small smile on her face, intending for this to be a joke.

"Come back here. I don't want to see blood on the concrete."

She sighed in reply, and walked back over to the couch. Seven really was different compared to Messenger Seven, although she couldn't really put a finger on it yet. She heard the sound of something ripping as Seven started to wrap the bandages around her leg.

Both of them continued to sit there in silence, until she heard another _snip_ , and Seven saying, "You're finished."

"Hm, thanks." She stood up, prepared to walk out the door, although her pants were still uneven and strange looking, until he said, "Wait, don't leave yet."

She froze in her steps, her eyes closed.

 _What does he want now?_

"What is it?"

"Don't... don't tell the others about this, okay?"

 _Oh._

 _This was what Saeran meant._

She turned around, her eyes wide. "If you want someone to talk to this about..."

"No! I don't need anyone to talk to this about. They won't understand, Art. And neither would you."

"But we'll try our best." Varia sighed, walking to the door. "We'll try our best to understand your story and to help. You just have to tell us."

She opened her mouth once more, prepared to tell the door to open, until Seven closed his eyes tightly, in hopes of this being all a dream, before saying, "I-I'll tell you. Come back in."

Her eyes weren't as wide as before, but it was clear that she wanted information. She walked back in, her shoulders more relaxed than they were before. "Take your time, Seven. If you're not comfortable..."

"I am. First you want me to tell, and now you say-"

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry about that."

"Just know... that you don't want to know too much about me. It's dangerous, Art."

"I'm fine with that. Danger consumes our lives."

Seven sighed as Varia finally took her backpack off, gently tossing it onto the ground. She took her seat on the arm of the couch, while Seven stood up with a groan and sat on the actual seat itself. He took a deep breath, holding it in for a while, before looking down at his hands, clasped tightly together. His cross necklace was dangling from his neck, and Varia managed to focus on that instead of Seven's face, which looked as if he was pained.

"I- My brother and I were both born out of a wedlock. My father was a politician, and he's the current prime minister." He looked at Varia to see if she would have any response, but she only nodded, urging him to continue.

He continued to look down, but this time, his hands started to fiddle with his necklace. "My mother... she told him that she would hide me and Saeran in exchange for my father paying her. She-" He took a little short breath. "She didn't treat us so well."

"What do you mean?"

"Saeran. He was weaker than me, and became sick more often than me. She... abused him. Tied him to a pole. Starved him. Threw heavy objects at him. And... I had to watch. I was always the one sent outside, and eventually, I started to go outside more and more."

"I found a nearby church. I clearly remember it. It was grand, the stained glass windows with colors more vibrant than I've ever seen. I think I truly felt like I belonged at that time, especially after I found Rika."

Varia tensed as soon as he mentioned Rika, although Seven didn't notice.

"I met V afterwards, and they saved me. They promised to save Saeran, too, but..."

"He was sent to an organization called Mint Eye," she interrupted.

Seven looked right up at her as she put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't bother to pull back. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "Here. I wish I could have found more, but I was more worried about the time."

She reached for her black backpack, her hands unzipping the bag. Seven looked at it, not sure what to expect. He held his breath as she pulled a file out of it. It was a simple file, the main folder itself yellow. But it was filled with papers, all seemingly shoved in, and it was filled to the brim.

The file was labelled _Mint Eye_.

"Mint Eye? What?" Seven reached for the folder, but Varia just set it down on the table instead, moving a few of the bags and cans that were on the table, as well as their handguns.

Varia shook her hand as Seven opened it, his hand shaky. "I found this in one of the cabinets that I was told not to open. It's a fairly surprising file, too. Explains, potentially, why Rika killed herself. But then again..."

Her eyes met Seven's, and both of them knew what she wanted to say.

 _What if her suicide was faked?_

Seven returned to the file, his face growing paler by the second. There were blueprints in the file, as well as designs for a logo. He continued flipping through the file, until he found one sheet of paper that reminded him of someone. He put the file down on the coffee table, only picking up that single sheet of paper to show to Varia.

"What's that?" She leaned towards him, cautiously, and Seven blinked a few times.

 _I can't have her in my life. We'll both be in danger._

"It's nothing," he replied coldly.

She blinked, before moving away, not saying a word. He felt a little bit of guilt eating away his insides, but there was also satisfaction mixed in with that guilt. Satisfaction that maybe, both of them would stay safe.

And separate.

He looked down at the paper, his eyes brightening. This paper, this little sheet, would explain why Saeran was acting this way.

But why was it in Rika's apartment?

Nothing made sense anymore.

He closed the file, pushing it towards Varia. "I'll keep this sheet of paper. Go back to your apartment now. And don't open any more cabinets. How'd you open it in the first place?"

"Thanks. And, well, your locks and alarms were a fun challenge. Just not that difficult. You forget that I'm just like you sometimes."

 _Right. But that's still impressive._

She took the huge file and shoved it into her bag, the clinking of metals and crinkling of paper heard by Seven. "What about Yoosung?"

He shook his head. "You shouldn't worry about him. Go back."

"I have some sort of right to worry about him."

"I said, go back. It's dangerous for you to stay here with me."

"And it's not dangerous for Yoosung to stay here with you?" She stood up, slinging her bag across her shoulder, her eyes fixated on Seven. "Listen, Seven, I don't know what you're trying to do, but if you truly dislike me, just tell me."

Seven flinched slightly under her glare, but also because of those words.

He didn't dislike her. It was hard to. What he felt was the opposite of dislike, but he didn't want to admit it.

After all, it was wrong to fall in love with the same person who pushed them all into this situation. He took a slight breath. "Leave, Varia."

He didn't notice her shiver slightly, all because of the way he said her name. It was cold, but she could hear it. There was something behind that single word, and she didn't know if it should scare her or comfort her.

She faced the door, starting to walk out. "Door, open."

Seven decided to focus on Yoosung and how he was still sleeping, while she was walking away, her shoes clicking against the floor. He heard the door close with a little _click_ , and looked up to see that Varia wasn't at his door anymore.

He stood up quietly, trying not to wake Yoosung, and headed towards his room.

If her name really was Varia Lee, and Saeran wasn't trying to mess with him... maybe he could find a bit more information on her.

Before he even reached the door of his room, he heard someone say something.

"So... what about Rika? Why did she kill herself?"

 _Oh shit..._

He turned around, only to see Yoosung standing by the couch, looking perfectly fine even though he had been tied up just moments before. There was something serious about his violet eyes that Seven rarely saw in him, which caused him to back up just a bit in surprise. His teeth were gritted, his hands both curled up into fists.

Seven opened his mouth, before closing it, not quite sure what to say to the blonde. "That's nothing for you to worry about."

"It's important for me to find out!" In one simple, slightly clumsy, move, Yoosung hopped over the couch, now two steps away from Seven. His eyes were dead serious, but they were also pleading for Seven to tell him. "Please, Seven... Luciel... why? What is this about Mint Eye?"

"You were awake this entire time?"

"I was awake as soon as she mentioned the file. I only pretended to stay asleep because I thought you guys were going to say something about Rika that you would have never said if I was awake. I need to know. Please."

Seven continued to stare at Yoosung's face, twisted up in pain and grief over his dead cousin. "Today's her death anniversary, right?"

Yoosung nodded, finally taking off his jacket and throwing it on the couch.

Seven walked closer to him, his hand reaching for his shoulder. "It's okay, alright? Knowing more about this... her death... you don't have to worry about it."

"I do!" He jerked back, away from Seven's hand, his mouth open and ready to say something. "Don't tell me that I don't have to worry about it! We're related by blood! We were closer than you ever were to her, so I have a right to know!"

"Yoosung... it's too dangerous for y-"

Yoosung continued to glare at Seven. "Don't tell me it's too dangerous! Everything's too dangerous for me, huh? Am I right?"

"Yoosung..."

"All I want to do is know." He lowered his voice, now quieter and more somber. "I just want you to tell me."

Seven sighed. "I'm sorry, Yoosung. I can't. Go home, now."

He leaned against the wall once again, his eyes closed and taking one deep breath, feeling Yoosung's glare on him.

"Open. Door, open."

The sound of footsteps and the sliding of the door were heard once again.

 _I... I'm sorry, Yoosung, but I can't tell you anything._

He felt something wet on his hands, and he cursed silently, for not realizing that he was crying before.

There was no reply from Yoosung except for silence, and all he heard was the sound of the door. Trying his best to stop the tears from continuously flowing, he forcefully wiped them off and stood up again. He shook his head, blinking a couple of times, before managing a look at the screens.

A blonde was walking down the hall, his hands still curled into fists.

 _Because what will happen if I do?_

* * *

 _ **RFA Chatroom  
February 3rd, 2017  
9:31 AM KST**_

 **V** : Please, calm down. Simply complaining about your situation will not help.

 **512** : He left! Probably to help you guys and the traitor.

 **199** : yeah! i cant believe he decided to run away after we tried to talk with him

 **V** : This... 727 you're talking about; he might have good motives for leaving. Please don't put the blame on him.

 **512** : And what do you think you're doing, telling us to stop?

 **V** : I only want this group chat to return to what it was before.

 **241** : Listen V whoever you are 727 isn't doing anything but running from his issue

 **241** : issues

 **V** : Everyone has a reason for doing something.

 **Yoosung has entered the chatroom.**

 **Yoosung** : V!

 **Yoosung** : You have a lot to explain.

 **Yoosung** : What's this about Rika?

 **V** : What?

 **Yoosung** : Tell me! Is she dead or alive?

 **199** : oooooh drama

 **V** : Yoosung... I can't say.

 **Yoosung** : What do you mean you "can't say"? You know, right? You know everything, but you're keeping everything away from us!

 **V** : I'm sorry, but I really can't tell you.

 **241** : Looks like 727 isnt the only one with secrets

 **Yoosung** : Yeah, he isn't.

 **Yoosung** : Don't just apologize and not tell me anything! I want the truth!

 **Yoosung** : You and Seven are always hiding together with your little secrets

 **Yoosung** : Tell me! What is so important that you can't say anything?

 **V** : Yoosung...

 **Yoosung** : Rika was my _cousin_. She was important to me; we were related by blood!

 **Yoosung** : Don't just hide everything from me and expect me to deal with it!

 **512** : Who is this... Rika person?

 **Yoosung** : She's _my cousin_! I cared about her the most... she cared about me the most...

 **Yoosung** : And now he's trying to cover up what really happened to her!

 **V** : Yoosung, I'm not trying to cover it up.

 **V** : I just can't tell you.

 **Yoosung** : And you're telling me that it isn't "covering it up"?

 **Yoosung** : I'm sick of your lies and apologies.

 **Yoosung** : I'm sick of it.

 **Yoosung** : I'm going to find out, no matter what.

 **Yoosung** : I don't care what happens to me, I'm not going to stop until you tell me!

 **V** : No, Yoosung, don't!

 **Yoosung** : Then tell me, V!

 **Yoosung** : Did Rika really kill herself? Or was she murdered? Still alive and well?

 **V** : ...I can't tell you.

 **Yoosung** : Then why did you tell me to stop?

 **Yoosung has left the chatroom.**

 **V** : Because the truth is dangerous.

 **V** : But it seems as if he already left.

 **241** : Ooooh V are you hiding something

 **512** : Drama in RFA alert. Oooh, scary.

 **199** : sarcasm doesnt translate well in text 512

 **512** : Yeah, whatever. Who's Rika, V?

 **512** : And who are you?

 **V** : Rika was... the love of my life.

 **V** : As for me?

 **V** : I'm a photographer.

 **V** : I'm 26 years old.

 **512** : No, not what do you do and stuff.

 **512** : Who is V? You seem to be all about calm and stuff, but who are you really?

 **512** : What do you hide? I'm always one for gossip. It's fine if you tell me.

 **241** : 512!

 **512** : What? I'm serious.

 **V** : Who am I...?

 **V** : I'm V. I... just want the best for everyone.

 **512** : By keeping secrets?

 **V** : Yes...

 **512** : Look at 727. Look at what happened with him and his secrets.

 **512** : I know nothing about his past before the agency. I know nothing of how he and his brother found 144.

 **512** : I know nothing about his personality. I don't know what he hides and what he knows.

 **512** : Look at how that turned out. We're all rallying up against him because he's not telling us anything.

 **512** : Think about it, V. Are you helping this RFA group by keeping your secrets?

 **241** : 512

 **241** : cordelias coming

 **512** : Sorry, V. Gotta go.

 **241 has left the chatroom.**

 **512 has left the chatroom.**

 **V** : I have my own reasons for my secrets.

 **V** : I have my own reasons for keeping them.

 **V** : But... I understand what you are saying. I will keep that in mind.

 **V has left the chatroom.**

 **Jumin Han has entered the chatroom.**

 **Jumin Han** : V was here before?

 **199** : hey its hot ceo guy

 **Jumin Han** : Do not refer to me by that.

 **199** : okay hot ceo guy

 **Jumin Han** : But Rika...? What about her?

 **Jumin Han** : I suppose I'll have to ask him myself.

 **Jumin Han has left the chatroom.**

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! I'd greatly appreciate any reviews of that sort, especially on character, since one of the hardest characters to write happens to be in this chapter (cough V). I don't know if I have his personality spot-on, slightly off, or way, way, way off, but I tried to write this based off of Yoosung's route.**

 **Thank you, again!**

 **-Teri**


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